Discover over 2.5 million individuals in this new release

Leading UK genealogy research website TheGenealogist has just launched a new, comprehensive collection of parish records for North West Kent. This monumental release includes over 2.5 million individuals, encompassing:

• Baptisms: 1538-1916

• Marriages: 1538-1939

• Burials: 1538-2000

The detailed transcripts include direct links to original images of the parish records, providing an invaluable resource for those looking to trace their ancestry or delve deeper into their family's history in Kent.

“We are pleased to announce this large release of new parish records broadening our coverage for Kent,” said Mark Bayley, Head of Online Development at TheGenealogist. “This release represents a significant addition to our growing Parish Record collection. Keep on eye on our news page as we’ll be adding further areas in the coming weeks!”

Parish records are an essential resource for anyone investigating their family history, offering insights into personal connections and local community histories. TheGenealogist is dedicated to providing high-quality resources and easy-to-use search tools that allow users to navigate their family’s past with ease.

Found in these records is Henry Tracey Coxwell a Victorian Aeronaut Extraordinaire, read his story here:https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2024/the-victorian-balloonist-who-defied-death-at-29000-feet-7850/

Explore the parish records and start your genealogical journey today with TheGenealogist. To celebrate this release, for a limited time you can claim a Diamond Subscription for just £99.45, a saving of £40. You can claim this offer here: 

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/MGBKPR1024

The offer expires 31st January 2025.

The following is an announcement issued by Findmypast.com:

There are over 13,000 new additions to discover.

We added a brand new military collection this week, consisting of 669 Volunteer Index cards from Fife, Scotland spanning 1860 to 1892. 

We also updated our existing set of Northumberland Fusiliers records - there are over 12,000 new transcriptions for you to explore. 

With two English titles also added to our ever-growing newspaper collection, there is so much to discover this Findmypast Friday.

British Army, Northumberland Fusiliers 1881-1968

If your ancestor served with Northumberland's Fusiliers between 1881 and 1968, their name may appear within these 12,444 new transcriptions.

Scotland, Fife Mounted Volunteers Index 1860-1892

We've enriched our Scottish military collection with a brand new set of Volunteer Index transcriptions from Fife.

These new additions span 32 years. 

New pages from Belfast to Burnley 

We added two new English titles to our newspaper archive this week - the Darlington Telegraph and the Sandwell Chronicle. There are hundreds of editions of each publication to discover, covering the years 1854-1855, 1858-1865, 1992 and 1996.

Darlington Telegraph.

We also updated 15 existing titles, adding a total of 315,856 new pages spanning 130 years.

Here's everything we added to our newspaper collection this Findmypast Friday.

New titles:

Updated titles:

Last week, we added almost a million parish records from the English county of Cornwall. Explore the release for yourself. 

Our family history challenge continues...

Using historical newspapers, can you uncover a sixth Griffiths brother who served in the military and add context to this moving family story? 

Using an open Creative Commons license on ConnecticutHistory.org helps CT Humanities ensure that its digital content is free and accessible for anyone wanting to share and learn more about Connecticut’s history. The license chosen by CT Humanities, known as the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, clearly states that anyone is free to share and adapt the text of ConnecticutHistory.org articles as long as they provide appropriate attribution and license any adaptations under the same license. By using an open license, CT Humanities is setting an example for other organizations around the state on how cultural content can be made accessible in responsible and thoughtful ways.

“CT Humanities has provided free access to public humanities content for decades,” said Dr. Jason Mancini, executive director of CT Humanities. “With our new open access initiatives, we are building knowledge about the benefits of open sharing in cultural organizations around Connecticut and setting an example through our projects on how to share knowledge responsibly. We look forward to seeing more Connecticut collections and stories made available to tell a fuller story of our state’s history and culture.”

Open and digitized collections allow organizations like museums, historical societies, and art galleries to share their stories more widely and to different audiences. Licensing content or providing copyright information for collection items encourages responsible reuse and sharing of Connecticut’s history and culture.

To build knowledge and expertise about open access throughout the state, CT Humanities has partnered with Creative Commons, an international nonprofit that empowers people to grow and sustain the thriving commons of shared knowledge and culture, to offer training and resources. Additionally, to further implement open sharing, CT Humanities is encouraging cultural organizations across the state to take advantage of statewide resources such as Connecticut Collections and the Connecticut Digital Archive, a program of the University of Connecticut Library, to share their own digital content transparently and equitably.

Dana Meyer, Connecticut Collections digital projects manager at the Connecticut League of Museums, said this increases visibility, helps better preserve cultural heritage, encourages collaboration among organizations, and broadens “the impact of our collections, ensuring that they are effectively maintained and widely accessible.” Connecticut Collections is a collections management tool for the state’s organizations to use to make archival and museum collections more searchable.

Bridgeport’s Housatonic Museum of Art has recently digitized its collection and opened access to its online content. The museum digitized 700 paintings in their collection and worked with Meyer to include their digital collection in the Connecticut Collections platform. Now, a worldwide audience of students, educators, scholars, researchers, and members of the public can access 7,000+ objects in the Housatonic Museum of Art’s collection. CT Humanities provided partial funding for both the museum and Connecticut Collections to undergo professional development training through the Creative Commons Certificate for Open Culture/GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums).

“Everything really coalesced into this really amazing resource,” said Charlotte Lefland, collection manager for Housatonic Museum of Art. “Now we can engage folks who physically cannot get here. It’s a gamechanger – it can be accessed from anywhere, is more accessible, is user friendly. Students can use it for research projects, faculty can use with students, we can now share what we have with the whole world.”

Lefland encourages other organizations to reach out to CT Humanities to learn more about the open access certification.

“It helped us make sure the museum was doing the right thing with copyright and image use and intellectual property,” she said. “It’s eye opening, and it has made our world much bigger.”

Michael Kemezis, director of digital humanities for CT Humanities, said that the CT Humanities Board of Directors adopted an intellectual property policy in fall 2022 for its grants programs because it believes in the positive impact that better sharing humanities content has in building and sustaining vibrant and thriving societies. Open licensing ConnecticutHistory.org through Creative Commons is the next step in CT Humanities’ goal of promoting free sharing and access to Connecticut’s many stories.

“I am excited about all the work CT Humanities has done to advance open access in the state over the past several years,” Kemezis said. “We have gone from big ideas to concrete actions by partnering with Creative Commons to provide educational opportunities for employees at cultural institutions. I am extremely proud that we are openly licensing our own content on ConnecticutHistory.org. We will continue to find new ways to advance free access to cultural and historical content.”

For more information on ConnecticutHistory.org’s license, open access certification, digitized collections, and more, please email Michael Kemezis.

# # #

Connecticut Humanities (CTH) is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. CTH connects people to the humanities through grants, partnerships, and collaborative programs. CTH projects, administration, and program development are supported by state and federal matching funds, community foundations, and gifts from private sources. Learn more by visiting cthumanities.org.

Creative Commons (CC) is an international nonprofit organization that empowers people to grow and sustain the thriving commons of shared knowledge and culture we need to address the world’s most pressing challenges and create a brighter future for all. CC empowers individuals and communities around the world by equipping them with technical, legal, and policy solutions to enable sharing of knowledge and culture in the public interest. Learn more at www.creativecommons.org

More than a hundred guests from as far as Massachusetts poured into the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, for a fun and historic space-themed sleepover during the third weekend in October. 

Enlarge

Families prepare for bed by bringing in sleeping bags, unrolling mats, and inflating mattresses in the Rotunda of the National Archives during the National Archives Sleepover, October 19, 2024. NARA photo by Susana Raab

It was the second National Archives Sleepover hosted by Dr. Colleen Shogan since her swearing-in as Archivist of the United States in May 2023. 

“Besides the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, how many documents do you think we hold at the National Archives?” Shogan asked guests during her welcome remarks. “13.5 billion! That includes 3 billion right here in this building in Washington, DC!”

“Talk about needing space!” remarked special guest Nicole Stott, who engaged guests with her experiences as a veteran NASA astronaut, author, artist, engineer, and aquanaut. 

“When you look at Earth from space, you feel a connection to it. I feel the same way when I look at our founding charters and all the work the National Archives has done to preserve them,” Stott said. “There is this sense of awe and wonder, seeing the foundations that are so relevant to life as we know it.”

Children asked thoughtful questions about Stott’s experiences as an astronaut. Other activities included arts and crafts and the opportunity to send a postcard to space through Blue Origin’s Club for the Future, a project to inspire youth interest in STEM. Guests of all ages loved posing for selfies and family photos as they explored the Rotunda after hours. 

The National Archives has hosted sleepovers since 2014. Children between the ages of 8 and 12 and their chaperones experience the rare opportunity to sleep at the National Archives beside the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. They can also choose to watch National Treasure in the William G. McGowan Theater. The following morning, they are treated to a pancake breakfast served by the Archivist of the United States. 

“My kids are so lucky to experience something like this so early in their lives,” said guest Melissa Wiley. “People travel from all over the world to visit the National Archives and the founding charters in person.”

Adults enjoyed coffee and a buffet breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and potatoes. Children lined up for plain, chocolate chip, and banana pancakes served (and flipped with style!) by Shogan and Patrick Madden, Director of the National Archives Foundation. After breakfast, guests visited the National Archives Store before departing at 9 a.m.

The next sleepover is scheduled for February 1–2, 2025. For more information and to register for future sleepovers, visit www.archivesfoundation.org/sleepover. Questions about the event should be directed to info@archivesfoundation.org. 

This National Archives Sleepover is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation.

15 Sylvan St, Danvers, MA, 01923 More info here

Orphan Trains, which operated in the United States between 1854 and 1929, transported 200,000+ children from New York to the Midwest and beyond. Through oral history and genealogy research – with ongoing, diligent care of the unique records – over two million descendants live on to tell the stories of this uniquely American movement. Learn about the history, genealogy, and legacy of this movement. Led by Michael Brophy, a nationally known, professional genealogical researcher, heir search specialist, and lecturer from the Boston area. He has served as Program Director and Publicity Director for the Massachusetts Genealogical Council. Brophy was also the first Treasurer of the New England of Association of Professional Genealogists. He was featured on the Irish TV series Dead Money, a genealogy TV show about heir searchers. In 2010, Mr. Brophy was hired to conduct research for the NBC television program "Who Do You Think You Are?", on an episode dedicated to the family history of actress Gwyneth Paltrow. 

Click here to register.

RECORDING NOTE: This program will be recorded. All registrants will receive the recording via email within 48 hours of the program.

Presented in collaboration with the Tewksbury Public Library and other area libraries.

Here is a walk down memory lane for anyone old enough to remember the fluoroscope, an x-ray device that was available in thousands of shoe stores worldwide. It also had several proprietary names, including the Pedoscope, X-ray Shoe Fitter, and the Foot-o-scope.

Fluoroscopes were once a common sight in shoe stores. Thousands of the devices were installed in the mid-20th century. Eventually, customers, shoe salespeople, and medical authorities alike finally realized that a shoe store isn’t the best place for a boxful of radioactive isotopes.

I well remember my mother taking me to Reed's Footwear and Clothing store where she we and Bill Reed (the owner of the store) all looked at live x-ray images of my feet inserted into new shoes in the store to see if the shoes fit properly or not. 

Nobody seemed to realize these unregulated, unshielded x-ray machines were a health hazard. While they were perhaps a minor hazard to customers, they apparently caused cancer amongst shoe salespeople who were exposed to x-rays off and on, all day, every day. In 1957, Pennsylvania became the first US state to ban use of these machines. Other states and most other countries banned the use of these machines soon after.

The image above shows a typical fluoroscope. The customer, often a child, would try on the new shoes and then stand on a "platform" on the back of the device. (The platform is barely visible on the back of the fluoroscope in the above picture.) Then there are three viewing ports on top. These allowed the shoe salesperson, the customer (such as my mother), and the person wearing the shoes (that's me!) to simultaneously view the live x-rays. I well remember that I wasn't so interested in the shoes but was fascinated by the fact I could see a live image of the bones in my toes as I wiggled them a bit.

It wasn't until several years later that the risks became well-known. According to an article in Wikipedia (at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe-fitting_fluoroscope):

"Large variations in dose were possible depending on the machine design, displacement of the shielding materials, and the time and frequency of use. Radiation surveys showed that American machines delivered an average of 13 roentgen (r) (roughly 0.13 sievert (Sv) of equivalent dose in modern units) to the customer's feet during a typical 20 second viewing, with one capable of delivering 116 r (~1 Sv) in 20 seconds. British Pedoscopes were about ten times less powerful. A customer might try several shoes in a day, or return several times in a year, and radiation dose effects may be cumulative. A dose of 300 r can cause growth disturbance in a child, and 600 r can cause erythema in an adult. Hands and feet are relatively resistant to other forms of radiation damage, such as carcinogenesis.

"Although most of the dose was directed at the feet, a substantial amount would scatter or leak in all directions. Shielding materials were sometimes displaced to improve image quality, to make the machine lighter, or out of carelessness, and this aggravated the leakage. The resulting whole-body dose may have been hazardous to the salesmen, who were chronically exposed, and to children, who are about twice as radiosensitive as adults. Monitoring of American salespersons found dose rates at pelvis height of up to 95 mr/week, with an average of 7.1 mr/week (up to ~50 mSv/a, avg ~3.7 mSv/an effective dose). A 2007 paper suggested that even higher doses of 0.5 Sv/a were plausible. The most widely accepted model of radiation-induced cancer posits that the incidence of cancers due to ionizing radiation increases linearly with effective (i.e., whole-body) dose at a rate of 5.5% per Sv."

An estimated 10,000 machines were sold in the US, 3,000 in the UK, 1,500 in Switzerland, and 1,000 in Canada before authorities began discouraging their use. It seems that several shoe salespeople later developed various forms of cancer, but no follow-up studies were ever conducted simply because nobody ever kept records of the people who had been exposed.

I find it interesting that Bill Reed, the owner and chief salesperson at the small Reed's Footwear and Clothing store mentioned earlier, lived to be 88 years old; it appears that the fluoroscope did not affect his health very much!

The Toledo, Ohio Police Department has announced that The Porchlight Project will be providing funding to help identify a Toledo Jane Doe who was found nearly 40 years ago.

TPD says on June 16, 1987, the body of a young woman was found behind an auto repair shop on Collingwood Blvd. near I-75. Her body was wrapped in a pink-colored cloth and she was wearing Jordache jeans. 

Officials say she had been dead for at least several days when she was found. It also appeared that her body was set on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence.

The woman was described as the following:

In order to help identify the woman, TPD Detective Jason Mussery requested funding for new DNA testing and genetic genealogy from The Porchlight Project, an Ohio nonprofit that raises money to help solve cold cases.

TPD says The Porchlight Project has agreed to fully fund the initiative and will contract with Othram for testing and genealogy.

“The Toledo Police Department has never given up on giving this young woman her name,” said Nic Edwards, a spokesperson for The Porchlight Project. “I believe this young woman‘s parents and siblings are still alive and I’m sure they’re heartbroken not knowing where she has been all this time.”

If you have any information about this case, contact the Toledo Police Department Investigative Services Bureau at 419-245-3142.

The West Virginia Department of Health’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, alongside the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia Fusion Center, and Marshall University, has made significant strides in forming the West Virginia Forensic Genealogy Commission. This initiative aims to expedite the identification of unidentified human remains, offering hope and closure to families statewide.

The commission is the culmination of efforts led by state legislators, including Senators Vince Deeds and Tom Takubo, who championed the enabling legislation.

Secretary of Health Sherri Young emphasized the commission's importance: "This represents a crucial step in restoring hope and closure to families facing the pain of uncertainty. We will leverage the latest forensic technology to treat unidentified remains with dignity."

Matt Izzo, Chief Administrator of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, noted, "This collaboration provides a more efficient avenue for submissions, addressing the backlogs created by previous processes."

An agreement with Marshall University and the West Virginia State Police Forensic Lab allows for DNA profiling of unidentified remains. To date, over 32 cases and multiple samples have been processed, enabling potential matches through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) or direct familial comparisons via the Marshall University Forensic Science Center. Law enforcement will assist in collecting reference samples from family members when leads arise.

Laura Kuyper, Director of the Marshall University Forensic Science Center, stated, "We are honored to support this program, which will enhance traditional DNA testing with next-generation sequencing technologies."

Senator Vince Deeds commented, "As a former law enforcement officer, I know how vital it is to provide closure to families. This commission is a powerful tool for identifying the unidentified and a lifeline for those seeking answers."

Senator Tom Takubo added, "This partnership illustrates the power of strong government support for private-public collaborations, showcasing the incredible outcomes that can be achieved. I am confident this initiative will set new standards for law enforcement procedures in West Virginia and nationwide.”

Jack Luikart, Director of the Fusion Center, added “We are very thankful for the opportunity and look forward to collaborating in the effort to bring new technology and resources to our state’s law enforcement to resolve unsolved crimes. Our goal is to make West Virginia the leader in this area of expertise.” 

Since launching in late spring, the commission has achieved two positive identifications within three months, with ongoing investigations. If initial efforts are inconclusive, the commission will partner with the RGEN Company and the West Virginia Fusion Center to create genealogical profiles using ancestry databases, providing another potential identification pathway.

Grand Prairie Police Cold Case Detectives, with the assistance of the Texas Department of Public Safety, have solved a 16-year-old cold case.

On Aug. 8, 2008, at around 6:15 p.m., the Grand Prairie Police Department responded to assist the Grand Prairie Fire Department with a structure fire in the 2600 block of Channing Drive. Inside the residence, firefighters located a deceased male who was identified as Raymond Hernandez, 45 years of age.

Autopsy results determined Hernandez was the victim of a homicide. DNA from a possible suspect was collected at the scene and entered into the CODIS in November 2008. At the time, there was no matching DNA in CODIS to identify the potential suspect, nor were there any other cases where this suspect’s DNA profile matched any other victims.

In February 2022, Grand Prairie Police (Texas) Cold Case Detectives began collaborating with the Texas Department of Public Safety – Texas Rangers to utilize the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). Forensic genetic genealogical testing of the potential suspect’s DNA was searched through a third-party laboratory.

In September 2024, an investigative lead was developed through the genealogical search. Detectives were able to obtain a DNA sample and confirm the lead.

On Oct. 4, 2024, Grand Prairie Police Cold Case Detectives, with the assistance of the Texas DPS-Texas Rangers and the Lufkin, Texas Police Department, arrested Jerry Lee Gardner, 44 years of age, at his residence in Lufkin, for the murder of Raymond Hernandez.

He is currently in the Grand Prairie Detention Center on the charge of Capital Murder with a bond set at $1,000,000.

On Aug. 23, the Chester Fritz Library made a unique donation to Norway House, a Minneapolis-based Norwegian cultural center. Curt Hanson, head of Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections at the library, drove to Minneapolis with 150 bygdebøker in tow.

Bygdebøker, roughly translated as “farm books” or “village books,” are invaluable resources for genealogists. They contain detailed family lineages and local histories from Norway. Each book covers the history of a specific Norwegian county (referred to in Norway as et fylke), complete with family and school pictures and legal and death records, among other things.

Hanson said that UND’s Arnie G. Brekke Bygdebøk Collection is the largest of its kind in the U.S. and, with more than 1,600 volumes, rivals some of Norway’s collections.

“We’ve been collecting bygdebøker since the 1980s, because North Dakota has such a large population with Norwegian ancestry,” Hanson said. “Arne Brekke, who taught in the Languages Department, helped the library start its collection, and he’s largely responsible for how big it is today.”

Bygdebøker are not widely circulated, and many are written exclusively in Norwegian, so finding specific volumes outside of Norway is a rarity. This specificity has made them a frequently requested resource at the library, Hanson said, which motivated the library to expand its collection. But over the decades, the library ended up with more duplicate volumes than it knew what to do with.

Mike Swanson, a former Chester Fritz Library archivist, proposed that UND donate its duplicates after he learned that Norway House was expanding its building. This expansion, which opened in 2022 with a ribbon cutting attended by Queen Sonja of Norway, includes a space for genealogical research materials and other historical texts provided by the library.

“They’ve just kind of been sitting in a room collecting dust here at the library,” Hanson said. “When Mike found out that Norway House was building up its own library, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to give these books to people who would really appreciate them.”

Race Fisher, development associate at Norway House, said the donation will be an important addition to the library’s growing collection. While many of the books are untranslated, aspiring genealogists need only a few words to navigate the texts and connect to their history, Fisher said.

“It’s incredible what you can find in these books,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll trace your family back as far as the 1600s; a few pages of a bygdebøk can uncover centuries of family history. But it also allows people to make tangible connections to people in contemporary Norway.

“It’s this kind of circular exchange that happens when people do genealogical research.”

As a cultural center, Norway House is in the business of connecting its American patrons to their ancestry and heritage. Until now, they’ve regularly tapped UND and other institutions for help with bygdeboker, but Fisher hopes that having a collection in-house will encourage visitors to reflect on Norway’s history and their own as their recent renovations continue to bring foot traffic.

“UND’s reputation for having this great collection of bygdebøker, and the University’s willingness to help people as they begin this journey has been really meaningful,” Fisher said. “We’re really grateful for UND’s willingness to make this contribution. It’s so exciting to offer these resources to our patrons and the larger Norwegian American community.”