The following is an announcement written by FamilySearch:

Star of Music, Theater, Film, and Television Says People Live on through Their Music 

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA and SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—For 3-time Latin Grammy Award winner Diego Torres, music is a universal language that connects people through the generations. The son of legendary Argentine singer and actress Lolita Torres, Diego says music is everything because of its power to recall to mind life’s meaningful experiences. Register for free to see Diego Torres’ keynote performance on the RootsTech 2022 mainstage (March 3–5, 2022).

“Like a perfume, music makes you think of a person, a story, a disappointment, or an encounter,” he said. “You see that you associate something to a song and when you play that song—it's as if you were there. It's like reliving the moment. The connection is very deep, very deep.”

In addition to his 3 Latin Grammy awards, Diego has won 10 Gardel awards, a very important and prestigious national award in Argentina, and sold more than 20 million records around the world. But it is the stories of how his music reaches to the hearts of his listeners that gives him the most satisfaction. 

“I have a cousin who is a medical instrument technician, and she sends me videos from the operating room, for example, of a girl who's about to give birth, and they're listening to my song at full volume. They're singing, and the girl is like, ‘Uh, uh.’ She's singing to [my] song, and [I’m] like, ‘No, it can't be.’”

For many years Diego has involved members of his extended family as characters in his music videos. In one powerful example, a music video became a family treasure that helped him introduce his 8-year-old daughter Nina to his family members, including some who were deceased, whom she had never met. 

“So, she sat down with me and started watching the video,” Diego said, “Then, I told her, ‘Do you see when I arrive at the hotel? The concierge who's asleep when I rang the call bell is your grandpa. That's my dad,’ because Nina didn't meet him. ‘Did you see when we were in the room? Well, the person who's on the other side is your mom. Did you see the one who's sitting next to me with a tray? That's aunt Angelica. There's aunt Mariana, that's cousin Angela, and there's your cousin Sol.’"

Enjoy more of Diego Torres’ musical story by registering for RootsTech 2022 today at RootsTech.org and joining the virtual event March 3–5, 2022! 

The following is an announcement from FamilySearch:

During the week of 17 January 2022, FamilySearch added over one million new, free records from Find a Grave Index, plus thousands more from Canada Ontario Tax Assessment Rolls, and expanded country collections for Bolivia, England, France, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sweden, and Venezuela. The United States added more records for Virginia County Marriages 1771–1989.

Find many more ancestors using the free archives listed below. Millions of new genealogy records are added each week to make your searches easier.

Don’t see what you’re looking for? Check back next week and, in the meantime, search existing records on FamilySearch. For other exciting genealogy content, peruse over 1,000 free, on-demand sessions from RootsTech Connect 2021.

Country	Collection	Indexed Records	Digital Images	Comments
Bolivia	Bolivia Catholic Church Records, 1566-1996	148,375	0	Expanded collection
Brazil	Brazil, Minas Gerais, Civil Registration, 1879-1949	4,748	0	Expanded collection
Brazil	Brazil, Santa Catarina, Civil Registration, 1850-1999	2,016	0	Expanded collection
Canada	Canada, Ontario Tax Assessment Rolls, 1834-1899	568,032	0	Expanded collection
El Salvador	El Salvador Catholic Church Records, 1655-1977	3,815	0	Expanded collection
England	England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988	59,919	0	Expanded collection
England	England, Northumberland Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1920	6,761	0	Expanded collection
France	France, Hautes-Alpes, Census, 1856	15,115	0	Expanded collection
France	France, Saône-et-Loire, Parish and Civil Registration, 1530-1892	592	0	Expanded collection
India	India, Madras Diocese Protestant Church Records, 1743-1990	1,970	0	Expanded collection
Nicaragua	Nicaragua, Catholic Church Records, 1740-1960	69	0	Expanded collection
Other	Find A Grave Index	1,002,096	0	Expanded collection
Panama	Panama, Catholic Church Records, 1707-1973	29	0	Expanded collection
Paraguay	Paraguay, Military Records, 1870-1965	11,476	0	Expanded collection
Peru	Peru, Huánuco, Civil Registration, 1888-1998	24	0	Expanded collection
Samoa	Samoa, Vital Records, 1846-1996	13,227	0	Expanded collection
Sierra Leone	Sierra Leone, Civil Births and Deaths, 1802-2016	43,994	0	Expanded collection
Slovakia	Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935	2,388	0	Expanded collection
South Africa	South Africa, Church of the Province of South Africa, Parish Registers, 1801-2004	3,914	0	Expanded collection
South Africa	South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers (Cape Town Archives), 1660-1970	7,633	0	Expanded collection
South Africa	South Africa, KwaZulu Natal, Vital Records, 1868-1976	5,133	0	Expanded collection
South Africa	South Africa, Reformed Church Records, 1856-1988	5,480	0	Expanded collection
Sweden	Sweden, Örebro Church Records, 1613-1918; index 1635-1860	7,514	0	Expanded collection
Sweden	Sweden, Stockholm City Archives, Index to Church Records, 1546-1927	1,971	0	Expanded collection
United Kingdom	England, Lincolnshire, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1574-1885	703	0	Expanded collection
United States	Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949	57	0	Expanded collection
United States	New Jersey, Death Index, 1901-1903; 1916-1929	307	0	Expanded collection
United States	Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989	19,487	0	Expanded collection
Uruguay	Uruguay Civil Registration, 1879-1930	2,612	0	Expanded collection
Venezuela	Venezuela, Catholic Church Records, 1577-1995	15,300	0	Expanded collection

Here is a press release issued by National Geographic:

National Geographic Explorer Tara Roberts Takes Us on a Personal Journey That Follows Black Scuba Divers Searching for Slave Shipwrecks Around the World

The Podcast Series Is Accompanied by a Cover Story in the March Issue of National Geographic Magazine and a National Geographic Documentary Special, CLOTILDA: LAST AMERICAN SLAVE SHIP, Premiering Monday, Feb. 7, 10/9c on National Geographic and Available to Stream Next Day on Hulu

Ahead of Black History Month, National Geographic is launching a powerful new podcast, INTO THE DEPTHS, on Jan. 27, 2022, that uncovers the deep history of the transatlantic slave trade as it follows a group of Black divers who are dedicated to finding and helping to document slave shipwrecks. The podcast series trailer is now available on Apple Podcasts and wherever podcasts are found, as well as at http://natgeo.com/intothedepths. The podcast will also be accompanied by a cover story in the March issue of National Geographic magazine, available online on Feb. 7, and a National Geographic documentary special, CLOTILDA: LAST AMERICAN SLAVE SHIP, premiering Monday, Feb. 7, 10/9c on National Geographic and available to stream next day on Hulu.

The six-part podcast series, funded in part by the National Geographic Society, highlights the journey of National Geographic Explorer Tara Roberts (@curvypath_tara on Instagram), who quit her job and left her life behind to follow in the footsteps of Diving With a Purpose, a group of Black divers who traverse the globe in search of long-lost slave shipwrecks and the truth of the history that accompanies them. The podcast follows Roberts from Florida to Costa Rica, and from the continent of Africa back to Roberts’ family home in Edenton, North Carolina, where the journey quickly turns personal for her.

“What I was experiencing was this sense of longing. I think this is a unique thing for African Americans. Where is home for us?” she asks in the fourth episode of the series. The question leads her on this life-changing journey.

“INTO THE DEPTHS is a profound and personal exploration of identity and history as told through the lens of Black scientists and storytellers eager to deepen our understanding of American history,” says Davar Ardalan, executive producer of Audio for National Geographic.

The podcast, which will drop from Jan. 27 to March 3, features over 40 voices, including underwater divers and archaeologists - descendants of those brought over on the ships, historians, and a variety of experts whom Roberts works with to uncover these stories. Ken Stewart, diver and co-founder of Diving With a Purpose, is featured in the second episode as Roberts dives into the story of the Spanish pirate ship, the Guerrero, which wrecked off the coast of Florida in 1827. Meanwhile, the town of Africatown, Alabama, made up of the direct descendants of Africans brought to America on the slave ship Clotilda, make an appearance in episode six. The journey brings Roberts to a deeply painful and personal crossroads concerning her identity as a Black American as she searches for a sense of belonging. You can listen on Apple Podcasts and wherever podcasts are found.

“As I got to know the divers, the ships they had found, the stories of those who had been captured, I realized this was a way to come to grips with those 400 years, with this traumatic history [of much of the Black population in the United States],” Roberts explains in the opening of the first episode. “Through these ships, we could bring lost stories up from the depths and back into collective memory.”

The podcast series was produced and directed by Francesca Panetta with National Geographic’s Carla Wills as executive editor and producers Mike Olcott and Bianca Martin.

“As a Black journalist, it’s been uplifting to edit and produce this podcast together with Black women storytellers who have brought tremendous insights and creativity to this groundbreaking series, including Tara as well as National Geographic Explorer and poet Alyea Pierce, sound designer Alexis Adimora, and producer Bianca Martin,” Wills says.

National Geographic is also encouraging listeners to listen with their crews and host their own COVID-19-safe listening parties by offering a downloadable listening party toolkit, available at natgeo.com/intothedepths. The toolkit will include an episode guide, discussion guide, social sharing graphic, and more, as well as helpful information regarding how to participate in the conversation online using #intothedepths.

In addition to the podcast series, Roberts will be featured on the cover of the March issue of National Geographic magazine, which will be published online at natgeo.com/intothedepths on Feb. 7. The feature will profile Roberts’ journey as she travels with the divers to investigate the lost stories of the slave trade – both to expand the historical record and to honor the 1.8 million unsung souls who perished during the middle passage.

National Geographic will also premiere a documentary special, CLOTILDA: LAST AMERICAN SLAVE SHIP, about the most intact slave shipwreck found to date and the only one for which we know the full story of the voyage, the passengers and their descendants. In July 1860, on a bet, the schooner Clotilda carried 110 kidnapped Africans to slavery in Alabama. The traffickers tried to hide their crime by burning and sinking the ship, but now, for the first time since Clotilda arrived in America, maritime archaeologists enter the wreck. In a dangerous dive, they explore the actual cargo hold and find physical evidence of the crime the slave traders tried so hard to hide. Descendants of the passengers share how their ancestors turned a cruel tragedy into an uplifting story of courage and resilience.

The special features experts include the following:

• • Dr. Sylviane Diouf, historian and author of “Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America”
  • Dr. Natalie S. Robertson, historian and author of “The Slave Shop Clotilda and the Making of Africatown, USA”
  • Mary Elliott, curator of American slavery, National Museum of African American History and Culture
  • Dr. James Delgado, maritime archaeologist, SEARCH Inc.
  • Stacye Hathorn, Alabama State archaeologist, Alabama Historical Commission
  • Joseph Grinnan, maritime archaeologist/diver, SEARCH, Inc.
  • Kamau Sadiki, lead instructor, Diving With a Purpose

CLOTILDA: LAST AMERICAN SLAVE SHIP is produced by National Geographic Studios, with producer/director Lisa Feit, senior associate producer Alex Brady, senior lead editor Joe Bridgers, editor Liv Gwynn and executive producer Chad Cohen. Michael Cooke is the director of photography. For National Geographic, Courteney Monroe is president, Content.

The following announcement was written by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC):

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) this week announced that it will soon begin accepting grant applications for the Community Advancement Packages (CAP) Grant Program, designed to help libraries serving populations of 60,000 or less respond directly to identified community needs in 2022.

The application window opens Jan. 26, with a deadline of April 1. At least $750,000 is expected to be available for this grant program. Applicants may apply for one or two Community Advancement Packages on the same application form. Each package provides up to $5,000 in reimbursement funds. Total awards will not exceed $10,000. Funding is provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

CAP Grants will support and advance community development by funding library-sponsored programming and services through the provision of specially targeted packages. These include equipment and tools to support in-person, hybrid, and virtual programming and services clustered around a specific area of need. As relevant, some also include materials and resources for outreach programming that reduces barriers to library spaces and/or provides access to inclusive services and programs beyond the walls of the library, such as retirement facilities, day-care centers, schools, and other community spaces. Packages are divided into four types:

Programming and Services Packages

Analog Outreach; Beyond the Library; Teen Services; Trauma-Informed Library

Technology Packages

Assistive Technology and Digital Inclusion; Audio-Visual

Special Collection Development Packages

Inclusive Library Collection; Mental Health Collection; Multilingual Collection; Collection Development

Critical Needs Packages

Administrative Support; COVID-19; Partners for Health; Crisis Response

Full descriptions of each package can be found on the TSLAC Cap Grants website at www.tsl.texas.gov/ldn/cap.

TSLAC will host an informational webinar, Introducing TSLAC Community Advancement Packages, from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. on Weds., Jan. 26. Library grants applicants are encouraged to register to attend at www.tsl.texas.gov/CAPwebinar2022

Accredited Texas public libraries, local public library systems, members of the TexShare Library Consortium, and non-profit organizations that are applying on behalf of accredited libraries and/or TexShare members are encouraged to apply through the TSLAC Grants Management System by the deadline of April 1, 2022. Full eligibility and other criteria, as well as application instructions, can be found at www.tsl.texas.gov/ldn/cap or by emailing the TSLAC Grants team at grants@tsl.texas.gov.

Three years ago, Anika Chabra lost her mother. But she lost something else, too. “With her passing, many of the stories and traditions that were unique to her and our family vanished in an instant,” Chabra says. “That made us realize that we can't wait until tomorrow to start capturing and reflecting on our family’s stories.”

Chabra wanted to create a platform to help people document and celebrate their culture, and turned to a co-worker in the advertising industry, Jennifer Siripong Mandel, to do it with her. The pair’s brainchild: The Root & Seed Conversation Tool web app (at https://www.rootandseed.com/conversation-tool) helps people celebrate their family traditions, culture and roots. “We recognized that we all have family stories that are worth knowing, and traditions that we should record, but not many of us do it (or not), at least until it’s (almost) too late,” Siripong Mandel says. They knew that getting elders excited about the process was key. “Since elders are such a critical part of family stories, we focused on their needs. We learned that asking them to download and install mobile apps was too big a barrier, so our tool is a web app,” Siripong Mandel says. “All you need is a smartphone and the internet to make it work. The interface and functionality is super-simple, by design.”

You can learn more in an article by Briony Smith published in the Hamilton Spectator web site at: https://bit.ly/3nxNWYw.

The Root & Seed Conversation Tool is available at: https://www.rootandseed.com/conversation-tool.

Cape Fear (North Carolina) Museum of History and Science’s photographic collection is now available online to anybody for viewing.

Cape Fear Museum's collection of more than 57,000 objects, paper documents, and photographs sheds light on the history, science, and cultures of the Lower Cape Fear. This online catalog provides access to the Museum's photograph collection, consisting of more than 15,000 images. This catalog will continue to grow as the Museum collects additional photographs.

The museum worked with Rediscovery Software to create a database of the museum’s photo collection of over 15,000 images. After 20 months of work, the photos also feature tags and ways to search them via various filters.

You can access the collection at https://capefearmuseum.rediscoverysoftware.com/Mhomed.aspx?dir=Permanent%20Collection.

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

NOTE: This article contains several personal opinions.

I travel a lot and I spend a lot of time with officers and members of many genealogy societies. Most everywhere I go, I hear stories of societies that are shrinking in size or perhaps a few stories of societies that are struggling to maintain what they already have. Even amongst all this "doom and gloom," I do hear a few rare stories of genealogy societies that are thriving and growing larger every year. Not only are they attracting more members, these few societies are also offering more and more services to their members with each passing year.

Why do the majority of societies flounder while a handful succeed?

I hear all sorts of "reasons" why societies are shrinking these days. I suspect they are not true reasons but are merely "shoot from the hip" excuses. Common excuses include "it's competition from the Internet" or "it's the economy" or "people just aren't interested anymore."

To be sure, competition and economic difficulties and even lack of interest exist everywhere. If society members and officers do nothing to offset these factors, inertia sets in and societies suffer. However, these factors affect all societies. Why is it that some societies thrive and even expand while others shrink at the same time?

I suspect the answer is a combination of many factors. However, some of the causes and perhaps even a few of the solutions become obvious when we look at history. Our ancestors witnessed and perhaps participated in similar problems years ago in other industries. Indeed, in recent years, even those of us alive today have seen similar declines and occasional reversals in a number of business endeavors. Perhaps the answer to future growth of your genealogy society may be found by first looking back at the history of similar problems in other fields of endeavor.

Here is the first question to ponder: What happened to all the railroads in North America?

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/12262624.

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. 

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

1921 Census of England & Wales Official Reports

Discover more about England and Wales in 1921. Explore this unique collection of official census reports including county reports, the full 1921 Census national report as well as the Dictionary of Occupational Terms. This full collection is brought together for the first time on Findmypast.

After every census, the details given by every household to the enumerators are gathered to create the national statistics that go on to inform government and health policies. For decades and even centuries, those reports are used by a variety of individuals and organisations to gain a better understanding of the country at that time. This was the same after the 1921 Census of England and Wales. All the census schedules were gathered by the enumerators and sent to the census headquarters at the converted Lambeth Workhouse. For six years, census clerks calculated not only the national statistics but also the statistical reports for each county.

Every county report and the national report will include reports on the following details:

• • Population
  • Population growth
  • Marital Status
  • Orphanhood
  • Education
  • Occupations (both male and female)
  • Industries
  • Dependency
  • Birthplaces
  • Movement of population
  • Widows

Occupation books

Along with the statistical reports we have published the books related to the classification and definition of all occupational terms in the 1921 Census. The Dictionary of Occupational Terms was first published in 1927. Every occupation was classified and allocated a code. Those codes appear in green ink on the census schedules. Usually, the code is three digits from 000 to 999 and then followed by a slash and an extra digit. You can link every code to an occupation definition.

The additional digit indicate the following -

/0 = not employed - in education etc

/1 = not employed - unpaid domestic duties etc

/2 = employer - not working at home

/3 = employer - working at home

/4 = self-employed (own account) - not working at home

/5 = self-employed (own account) - working at home

/6 = employed - not working at home

/7 = employed - working at home

/8 = unemployed

In addition to the Dictionary of Occupational Terms, we have provided the Classification of Occupations. A publication that includes detailed lists of the classification of not just the occupations but also the industries. For example, Industry order XXVII was for Persons Engaged in Personal Service and then within that order, the occupational code for Domestic Servants was 900. It also includes instructions to the clerks employed in classifying occupations.

Wow! Another year has come and gone! Where did the time go?

It seems like only yesterday that I decided to start writing a genealogy newsletter for a few of my friends and acquaintances. Well, it wasn’t yesterday… it was exactly 26 years ago!

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that 26 years would be so interesting, so much fun, and so rewarding.

Twenty-six years has slipped by in almost the blink of an eye. It seems like only yesterday that I sent the first e-mail newsletter to about 100 people, mostly members of CompuServe’s Genealogy Forums. (Do you remember CompuServe?) The last time I looked, this newsletter now has tens of thousands of readers tuning in every day! If you would have told me that 26 years ago, I would have never believed you.

This little newsletter started as a way for me to help friends to learn about new developments in genealogy, to learn about conferences and seminars, and to learn about new technologies that were useful to genealogists. I especially focused on what was then the newly-invented thing called the World Wide Web. In 1996 many people had never heard of the World Wide Web, and most people didn’t understand it.

None of the first recipients knew in advance that the newsletter would arrive; I simply e-mailed it to people who I thought might be interested. In 1996 nobody objected to receiving unsolicited bulk mail; the phrase “spam mail” had not yet been invented. I shudder to think if I did the same thing in today’s internet environment.

The word “blog” also had not yet been invented in 1996, so I simply called it an “electronic newsletter.” Some things never change; I still refer to it as an “electronic newsletter” although obviously it is a blog.

Here is a quote from that first newsletter published on January 15, 1996:

“Well, it’s started. This newsletter is something that I have been considering for a long time, but I finally decided to “take the plunge.” I’ve subscribed to several other electronic newsletters for some time now and have found them to be valuable. On many occasions I have said to myself, “Someone ought to do a weekly newsletter for genealogy news.” One day the light bulb went on, and I decided that perhaps I was that someone.

“I hope to collect various bits of information that cross my desk and appear on my screen every week. Some of these items may be considered ‘news items’ concerning events and happenings of interest to computer-owning genealogists. Some other items will be mini press releases about new genealogy software or other products and services that have just become available. I may write a few articles about things that are not genealogy-related but still seem to be of interest to me and probably to the readers. This may include articles about online systems, operating systems or other things that affect many of us.

“You will also find editorials and my personal opinions weaving in and out of this newsletter. Hopefully I will be able to clearly identify the information that is a personal opinion.

“The expected audience of this newsletter includes anyone in the genealogy business, any genealogy society officers and anyone with an interest in applying computers to help in the research of one’s ancestors

“I chose to distribute in electronic format for two reasons: (1.) it’s easy, and (2.) it’s cheap. In years past I have been an editor of other newsletters that were printed on paper and mailed in the normal manner. The ‘overhead’ associated with that effort was excessive; I spent more time dealing with printers, maintaining addresses of subscribers, handling finances, stuffing envelopes and running to the post office than I did in the actual writing. Today’s technology allows for a much faster distribution, and it is done at almost no expense to either the producer or the subscribers. I want to spend my time writing, not running a ‘newsletter business.’

“Since the expected readers all own computers and almost all of them use modems regularly, electronic distribution seems to be the most cost-effective route to use. It also is much lower cost than any other distribution mechanism that I know of.”

The original plan has been followed rather closely in the 26 years since I wrote those words. The newsletter still consists of “events and happenings of interest to computer-owning genealogists,” “mini press releases about new genealogy software or other products and services,” and “a few articles about things that are not genealogy-related but still seem to be of interest to me.” I have also frequently featured “editorials and my personal opinions.”

One thing that has changed is that the newsletter was converted from a weekly publication to a daily effort about 20 years ago. I now send both daily and weekly summations of all the articles by e-mail.

I am delighted with the change to a daily format. There is a lot more flexibility when publishing daily and, of course, I can get the news out faster.

Another thing that has changed is the delivery method. In 1996, this newsletter was delivered to readers only by email. The reason was simple: most computer owners in those days didn’t use the World Wide Web. In fact, most of them didn’t even know what the World Wide Web was.

Tim Berners-Lee proposed a new service of hypertext inter-connected pages on different computers in 1991, when Web servers were unknown. By January 1993 there were fifty Web servers across the world. A web browser was available at that time, but only for the NeXT operating system. Web browsers for Windows and Macintosh systems were not available until June, 1996, 5 months AFTER I published the first newsletter. Even then, the World Wide Web did not become popular with the general public until the dot-com boom of 1999 to 2001.

Prior to the dot-com boom of 1999 to 2001, email was the best method of sending information to others.

One feature that I like about the current daily web-based publication is that each article has an attached discussion board where readers can offer comments, corrections, and supplemental information. The result is a much more interactive newsletter that benefits from readers’ expertise. The newsletter originally was a one-way publication: I pushed the data out. Today’s version is a two-way publication with immediate feedback from readers.

The 2022 newsletter does differ from one statement I wrote 26 years ago: “Today’s technology allows for a much faster distribution, and it is done at almost no expense to either the producer or the subscribers.” If I were to re-write that sentence today, I wouldn’t use the phrase, “at almost no expense.” I would write, “…at lower expense than publishing on paper.”

Since I wrote the original words 26 years ago, I have received an education in the financial implications of sending bulk e-mails and maintaining web sites, complete with controls of who can access which documents. I now know that it costs thousands of dollars a year to send thousands of e-mail messages every week. There are technical problems as well. Someday I may write an article about “how to get your account canceled when you repeatedly crash your Internet Service Provider’s mail server.”

The truth is I did crash mail servers a number of times in the early days of this newsletter. And, yes, I got my account canceled one day by an irate internet service provider. I was abruptly left with no e-mail service at all. The internet service provider discovered that their mail server crashed every week when I e-mailed this newsletter, so they canceled my account with no warning. I now use a (paid) professional bulk email service to send those messages. I also hope that internet service provider has since improved the company’s email server(s)!

In the third issue of this newsletter, I answered questions that a number of people had asked. I wrote:

“I hope to issue this [newsletter] every week. … I reserve the right to change my mind at any time without notice. Also, the first three issues have all been much longer than I originally envisioned. I expect that the average size of the newsletter within a few weeks will be about one half what the first three issues have been. Do not be surprised when you see it shrink in size.”

Well, I was wrong. The first three issues averaged about 19,000 bytes of text. The newsletter never did shrink. Instead, the average size of the newsletters continued to grow. The weekly e-mail Plus Edition newsletters of the past few years have averaged more than 500,000 bytes each, more than twenty-five times the average size of the first three issues. In fact, each weekly newsletter today is bigger than the first ten weekly issues combined!

So much for my prognostication!

In fact, you receive more genealogy-related articles in this newsletter than in any printed magazine. Subscriptions for the Plus Edition of this newsletter also remain less expensive than subscriptions to any of the leading printed genealogy magazines.

In 26 years I have missed only twelve weekly editions for vacations, genealogy cruises, broken arms, hospital stays, one airplane accident (yes, I was the pilot), and family emergencies.

I broke both arms one day by slipping on an icy walkway and still missed only one newsletter as a result! I found typing on a keyboard to be difficult with two arms in casts. The following week I wrote an article about speech input devices as I dictated that week’s newsletter into a microphone connected to my PC.

Several months later, I suffered bruises and wrenched my neck severely when I had an engine failure in my tiny, single-seat, open cockpit airplane. The plane and I landed in a treetop and then fell to the ground about eighty feet below, bouncing off tree limbs as the wreckage of airplane and pilot fell to the ground together. I landed upside down with the wreckage of the airplane on top of me. Remember… this was an open-cockpit aircraft. Yet I missed only one issue as a result of that mishap even though the following issue was written while wearing a neck brace and swallowing pain pills that made me higher than that airplane ever flew.

Eight years ago, an emergency appendectomy caused me to miss one weekly mailing of the newsletter. I have rarely taken time off for vacations.

Over the years I hopefully have become more cautious: I stopped flying tiny airplanes, and I have now moved to Florida in order to avoid the ice. I also have published more than 65,000 newsletter articles. Someday I really do have to learn how to touch type.

Because of this newsletter, in the past 26 years I have traveled all over the U.S. as well as to Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Israel, and Ireland, and have made multiple trips each to Canada, England, Scotland, Mexico, New Zealand, China, and to several Caribbean islands.

Because of this newsletter, I have met many enthusiastic genealogists. Because of this newsletter, I have had the opportunity to use great software, to view many excellent web sites, and to use lots of new gadgets. Because of this newsletter, I have discovered a number of ancestors. I am indeed fortunate and have truly been blessed.

I’ve always tried to make this newsletter REAL and from the heart. I don’t pull any punches. I write about whatever is on my mind. And if that offends some people, then so be it. I don’t expect everyone to agree with all of my opinions. There is plenty of room in this world for disagreements and differing viewpoints amongst friends. There are too many watered-down, politically correct newsletters and blogs out there already. I plan to continue to write whatever is on my mind. If you disagree with me, please feel free to say so.

To each person reading today’s edition, I want to say one thing: From the bottom of my heart, thank you for tuning in each day and reading what I have to say.

Also, one other sentence I wrote 26 years ago still stands: suggestions about this newsletter are always welcome.

Actor Matthew Modine will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming virtual event March 3-5, according to FamilySearch.

Matthew Avery Modine was born March 22, 1959, as the youngest of seven children in Loma Linda, California, the son of a bookkeeper and drive-in theater manager. His iconic roles as Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket, the title character in Birdy, high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, oversexed Sullivan Groff on Weeds, and triumphant return of the mysterious and frightening Dr. Martin Brenner on the Netflix global phenomenon Stranger Things have cemented his legacy.

Modine was drawn to acting at a young age because his father managed a drive-in theater. He performed in several high school plays and later attended the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York.

Modine has acted in more than 75 films and dozens of television shows since the early 1980s. He credits his wife of 40-plus years, Puerto Rican producer Caridad Rivera, for giving him the confidence he needed to become an actor. Modine is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award and has shared the screen with well-known actors such as Mel Gibson and Nicolas Cage. One of his most recent roles is Dr. Martin Brenner in Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

In his RootsTech remarks, Modine will tell about his life’s journey as a young boy in California and Utah, share his discovery of how New York City is actually more of a homeland than an adopted home, and discuss the connections he has made along the way, including a special connection with an uncle whose U.S. Air Force uniform Modine wore as a B-17 captain in the film, “Memphis Belle.”

“Can we create, as a human being, a little ripple of positivity and goodness that will impact other peoples’ (ripples)?” Modine said in a news release. “And my ripple will connect with another ripple and create a great wave of change. That’s how you connect to people … don’t think that you’re above anybody else.”

You can register now for RootsTech Connect 2022, which will be held on 3–5 March 2022, on RootsTech's website. RootsTech Connect is a free, virtual event that includes access to all speakers, classes, and additional resources. You can also check out videos from previous years' RootsTech Connect by going to their website.