Just over four centuries ago, the ship The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth in the UK to the shores of America, carrying with it a group of travellers who would go down in history. For some, these 17th Century "pilgrim fathers" are also real-life ancestors. But for how many?

There are a few estimates out there, all of them quite high. According to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, there are "35 million Mayflower descendants in the world".

And while many Americans are proud to be recent arrivals or second-generation immigrants, making the nation a unique blend of cultures, for others there's an incentive to claim ancestry to these early European arrivals.

Dr Lauren Working, an American historian at the University of Oxford, believes there's an almost aristocratic prestige attached to tracing your family back to the Mayflower.

"It continues to give people a sense of the authority of shared connections with the past. There are so many jokes about America being so young and not really having much of a history.

You can read more in an article at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57698818.

People who were born and adopted in Connecticut prior to 1983 can now legally and easily obtain their own birth records for the first time in decades.

The passage of Public Act 21-21 gives town and city clerks the authority to provide adult adoptees access to their original birth documents, a right that was barred in 1974.

The Hospital of Central CT (formerly New Britain General) is one about 12 birthing hospitals across the state. Individuals born there can download an application to receive their birth records within 30 days at newbritainct.gov/services/town_clerk/vital_records.htm

As chairman of the CT Town Clerks Association (CTCA) Legislative & Elections Committee, New Britain City Clerk Mark Bernacki worked alongside Access Connecticut, Inc. and other advocacy groups to testify in support of this legislation. While Bernacki said there is no way to count exactly how many birth records are newly available in New Britain, it was estimated this new provision will impact about 38,000 adoptees currently living in the state.

You can learn more at: https://bit.ly/3iHjKIx.

To all subscribers:

Here is a list of all of this week's articles, all of them available here at https://eogn.com:

(+) Epidemics

Your Photos May Disappear

Ancestry Has Just Updated Its Terms of Service and Privacy Statement — Again

Improvements to the Online Family Tree at MyHeritage

MyHeritage Adds 14.4 Million Historical Records

Findmypast Adds New School and Parish Records

Deeds and Research Lead to Discovery of Lost Historic Augusta, Maine Cemetery

How to Download the Complete Set of 2020 Census Redistricting Files for Your State

Society of Genealogists Appoints New CEO

Update: Are You Ready for the Future of Computing?

The article with a plus sign (+) in the title is only visible to Plus Edition subscribers. 

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

In these days of the deadly Covid-19 virus, sometimes we forget that our ancestors had similar, or even worse, experiences before the days of high-powered drugs.

The rampant spread of disease was common in the days before penicillin and other "wonder drugs" of the twentieth century. Our ancestors lived in fear of epidemics, and many of them died as the result of simple diseases that could be cured today with an injection or a prescription.

If you ever wondered why a large number of your ancestors disappeared during a certain period in history, you may want to investigate the possibility of an epidemic. Many cases of people disappearing from records can be traced to dying during an epidemic or moving away from the affected area.

Some of the epidemic statistics are staggering. For instance, the influenza epidemic of 1918 and 1919 killed more people than did World War I. Any major outbreak of disease was accelerated by a total absence of sanitary procedures and lack of knowledge. In Europe during the Middle Ages, the homes of the citizens often had roofs and walls made of straw, floors of dirt, and dwellings where animals were kept inside. The city streets, if that's what you could call them, often were barely wide enough for a single cart to pass, and they were perpetually covered with mud, garbage, and excrement. For lack of heated water, people rarely bathed, and fleas were commonplace. It is a wonder that anyone survived under these conditions!

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/10833436.

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 the Society of Genealogists:

The Society of Genealogists is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Wanda Wyporska, as its new CEO, following an open competitive process. An historian of the Early Modern period, her first book was shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award and she regularly contributes to a range of historical events, podcasts and interviews.

Dr Wyporska joins the Society after leading The Equality Trust for five years, where she oversaw digital innovation, significant diversification of income, and a doubling of staff. She is also a trustee of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) and Redthread. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of York. She will take up the role on October 1st, 2021.

Ed Percival, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Society of Genealogists said:

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Wanda into this role at such an exciting time for the Society of Genealogists. We are in the midst of an ambitious transformation, which will see us move to new premises, transform our membership services and forge new partnerships.

Not only does Wanda bring significant experience as a CEO and leader in the voluntary sector, but, also, crucially for the Society and its members, she brings a real passion for social history.”

“We are extremely grateful to Laura Doyle for the incredible work she has done as Interim CEO, stepping in to take the helm in December 2020. Her wonderful leadership has ensured that our members, staff and volunteers have had continuity and been supported over a very challenging year.”

Dr Wanda Wyporska, incoming CEO said:

“I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the Society of Genealogists, especially at such an exciting time. Having spent the happiest years of my life in libraries and archives, it is a real privilege to be taking up this role. Studying our family history is a wonderful way of finding out more about ourselves and where we come from and the Society of Genealogists helps people to discover their own place in history. I’m looking forward to meeting staff and members and especially the fantastic volunteers who play such an important role.”

This time there is a change buried deep in its language that is of significance to users.

As of the change, effective 3 August 2021, a user can’t change his or her mind about any content uploaded to Ancestry: you’ve just gifted the rights to that content to Ancestry, forever.

This is a major change for all Ancestry.com users. Ancestry.com now claims that it owns all information contributed by the company's users and the company (Ancestry.com) can use this information for whatever purposes they choose.

As of now, it reads (emphasis added):

… by submitting User Provided Content through any of the Services, you grant Ancestry a perpetual, sublicensable, worldwide, non-revocable, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, publish, distribute, provide access to, create derivative works of, and otherwise use such User Provided Content to the extent and in the form or context we deem appropriate on or through any media or medium and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed or discovered. This includes the right for Ancestry to copy, display, and index your User Provided Content. Ancestry will own the indexes it creates.

I am not an attorney and am not qualified to interpret contract law. For a better interpretation of what this means to you, I will refer you to an article written by Judy Russell (who IS an attorney and is widely known as "The Legal Genealogist" at https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2021/08/04/one-big-change-at-ancestry/. )

Read it carefully. You are giving away more than you probably realize.

The U.S. Census agency has released information about how to retrieve redistricting files. This is not names and addresses of residents. Instead, it contains population counts to use in their redrawing of congressional and state legislative district boundaries—a process known as “redistricting.” Population counts are available for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Instructions provided include:

The U.S. Census Bureau provides the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico with population counts to use in their redrawing of congressional and state legisla­tive district boundaries—a process known as “redistricting.”

The Census Bureau will release these data on its public FTP site on August 12, 2021. The Census Bureau will release the same data in easier-to-use formats by September 30, 2021.

While the states are responsible for legislative redistricting, the Census Bureau provides the most accurate population counts possible for the geographic areas the states need.

Webinar in Advance of the 2020 Census Redistricting Data Release

You can learn more by starting at: https://www.census.gov/data/academy/data-gems/2021/how-to-download-the-complete-set-of-2020-redistricting-files.html.

The following announcement was written by FindMyPast:

Search new school and parish records

Where will your past take you this Findmypast Friday? Find out with Findmypast’s latest new additions.

National School Admission Registers

Findmypast have added over 9,000 new records from Halifax, Yorkshire to their collection of National School Admission registers. This vast collection spans the years 1870 to 1914 and contains over 9.3 million transcripts and images from 41 counties across England and Wales

Search these records to discover where your ancestor went to school, their birth date, admission year and the name of the school they attended. You may also be able to discover their parents’ names, father’s occupation, exam results and any illnesses that led to absence from school.

Staffordshire Parish Registers

Explore thousands of new baptism, marriage, banns and burial registers from four parishes in Staffordshire, including;

• • Caverswall, St Peter
  • Chebsey, All Saints
  • Checkley, St Mary & All Saints
  • Tipton, St Mary

Revealing essential names, dates, locations and family details, these new Staffordshire resources form part of the largest collection of UK parish records available anywhere online.

Newspapers

15 new papers have just joined the site along with updates to seven existing titles. Brand new to the Findmypast archives are:

• • Aurora Borealis covering 1821
  • Constitution (London) covering 1818-1819
  • Empire News & The Umpire covering 1884-1895 and 1897-1911
  • General Evening Post covering 1801-1813 and 1818-1822
  • Instructor and Select Weekly Advertiser covering 1810-1811 and 1813-1814
  • London Evening Post covering 1805-1806
  • London Journal and Pioneer Newspaper covering 1845-1846
  • London Moderator and National Adviser covering 1813, 1818-1819
  • London Phalanx covering 1841-1843
  • Observer of the Times covering 1821-1822
  • Public Cause covering 1811-1812 and 1814-1816
  • Standard of Freedom covering 1850-1851
  • Tailor & Cutter covering 1866-1868 and 1879-1918
  • True Sun covering 1832-1837
  • Wooler’s British Gazette covering 1819

While year coverage has been expanded in:

• • Boxing from 1913
  • Englishman from 1803-1809, 1812-1813, and 1816-1834
  • Morning Herald (London) from 1853 and 1863
  • Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette from 1918 and 1920
  • Press (London) from 1860
  • Sporting Chronicle from 1874, 1891, 1897, 1902, 1904-1905 and 1921
  • Swindon Advertiser from 1913

The following announcement was written by MyHeritage:

"We’re pleased to announce that the most popular view for family trees on MyHeritage has been improved with a new design — making it easier than ever to navigate your family tree and make new discoveries. 

"It’s easy to get absorbed in family history research, and spend hours on the family tree. The new tree design, which is cleaner and more modern, helps improve the overall user experience and make discovering your family history easier and more enjoyable. We have added useful new features, and some nice touches.

"The improvements also include a new Relationship diagram that enables you to visualize your relationship to other people in the family tree to easily understand how you are related."

The full description is much longer and has numerous images of the improvements. You can learn the full story at: https://bit.ly/3lCq31I.

The following is an extract from an article written  by MyHeritage: