Gramps is a very powerful and FREE genealogy program that runs on Linux or UNIX although versions for Windows and Macintosh are also available (again, free of charge.) Now the developers have released version 5.1.4:

A new maintenance release, has been released. Changes since v5.1.3 include:

Update translations: cs, de, es, fi, fr, hu, nl, pt_BR, ru, sv, zh_CN.

Update copyright date.

Fix probably alive if death without date.

Place editor, copy and paste of lat and long text no longer auto-populating latitude and longitude fields.

Fix for crash when changing views if part of toolbar is not shown because of a small screen when changing views.

Fix bottombar always showing after restart, even when not wanted.

Always use filtered collation names. Store the Sqlite3 collations in the __collations array to short-circuit re-creation.

Fix issue with German relation calculator fixed issue when more than 24 generations between the two people.

Add file logging for macOS. When Gramps is launched from macOS’s LaunchServices it doesn’t have a sys.stderr attached so the default stream logger goes to /dev/null. Use a FileHandler in tht case, writing the log to $TMPDIR/gramps-pid.log. This will help particularly in analyzing crashes where python shuts down as there’s no crash report in that case.

Fix libplaceview to avoid exception when mapservice is no longer present.

Fix References Gramplet for inadequate updates when other objects change.

Fix geofamily crash if a family has no father.

Home Person setting does not convey in a merge.

Fix CSV export of view to only put single CR character.

Add Media filter rule ‘HasMedia’ to list of media rules for editor.

Need to set locale.textdomain under linux. _build_popup_ui() ignores translated strings without locale.textdomain set.

Change category of ‘MatchesEventFilter’.

Fix issue where separator between top and bottom bar of View creeps up.

Fix Locations Gramplet (Enclosed by) to properly display certain nested places when the smallest place has undated enclosure and larger places are dated.

Fix Family Tree Manager drop error on Windows.

Fix exportvcalendar error is “is not” with a literal (Python 3.8 issue)

Handle not found when copying source from the citation tree.

Fix call to ‘file’ function, which doesn’t exist in Python3.

Fix write_lock_file exception when USERNAME is missing.

Fix EditPlace so Tab key doesn’t get stuck on Private icon.

Fix Tag report for places that have a hierarchy.

Fix exception when cancelling out of a db upgrade in GUI.

Icon file changes:

Install 128×128 and 256×256 application icons.

Install MIME type icons into the hicolor theme.

Remove gnome-mime- prefix from icon filenames.

Install application icons into correct directories.

Fix error in Birthday and Anniversary report. Fixes an error triggered when the first person_handle in the list has a death event, but no birth event and does not have family relationships. These conditions lead to the local variable short_name not being declared before it comes time to process death events.

Fix graphdoc to properly escape characters in ids for Graphviz.

Replace inspect.stack() with inspect.currentframe(). Works around Python issue #12920 which causes every call to inspect.trace() to fail because __main__ is always the starting point.

Fix crash sorting on columns in Selectors with TreeModels.

Fix progress bar freeze due to changes in Gtk.

Fix svgdrawdoc for text containing XML invalid characters.

Mac:

Update PyICU to 2.7.2 in macOS build.

Update dependencies. Includes moving berkeleydb and pybsddb over from gtk-osx.

Further changes for bundling with Python 3.8.

Set __file__ if gramps_launcher.py is run as __main__.

Add geocode-glib to build.

See the changelog for more details.

You can learn more at: https://gramps-project.org/blog/.

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

The full list of newly-added records is too long to list here. However, you can find the full list at: https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-26-july-2021/. 

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.

It is with sadness that pass along the news of the death of Jim Slade, a long-time genealogist and member and leader of many genealogy organizations. The following obituary was received from Jim's daughter, Becki Slade Teague:

James Lee (Jim) Slade, PE

January 30, 1928 – July 26, 2021

James Lee (Jim) Slade, 93, loving husband, caring father, doting grandfather and great-grandfather, proud engineer, and accomplished genealogist, expired on July 26, 2021 at his daughter Jamie Slade’s home in The Village, OK.

He was born (as Jimmie Lee Slade) in Oklahoma City on January 30, 1928 to Jessie Hollis Slade, who was born in Cloud Chief, Indian Territory and Lee Dumas Slade of Boyd, Wise Co, TX, who died when Jim was a young adult. Dad lived his entire life as a proud, friendly, helpful Oklahoman.

After graduating from Classen High School, he courted his wife, Genevieve Willett Slade of Perry, OK at The University of Oklahoma; they married in 1951. They enjoyed a lifelong love affair and were inseparable until her death in 2014. He is survived by daughters Rebecca Ruth Slade Teague, Edmond, and Jamie Marilyn Slade, The Village, OK, son Lee Willett Slade, Boxborough, MA; three grandchildren, Susanne Slade Kelly (Bradford), Conroe, TX, Lauren Leigh Teague Collins (Tony), Tulsa, OK, and James Lee Slade (Alicia), Prosper, TX; and two great-granddaughters, Emery Kay Slade and Laurel Grace Slade, both of Prosper, and a third great granddaughter, Baby Girl Collins, whose arrival is imminent. He adored them all and was loved much by each.

Educated and trained as a civil engineer, he served as City Engineer of Ponca City, OK for five years before accepting a position as Bond Engineer and Assistant City Engineer with the City of Oklahoma City. In addition to being a licensed professional engineer, he was also Oklahoma Registered Public Land Surveyor #4, with experience designing and surveying throughout the state, including Turner Turnpike, Lake Eufaula, and major interchanges statewide. Early in his career he surveyed from the state’s Initial Point, a stone marker that established the first survey point in Oklahoma Territory. He established the consulting civil engineering firm Slade & Associates before merging with Hudgins Thompson Ball (HTB), a firm since acquired by Dewberry. Always a proud member and contributor to the engineering profession, he was honored as a Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a Fellow of the Society of American Military Engineers.

He relished travel, boating, and otherwise enjoying family times at state lakes, especially Lake Eufaula. He was an accomplished water skier into his 60’s and boasted an almost perfect record in teaching dozens of newbies how to water ski. His planning and giving spirit made him an expert at creating memories for his family and their friends during long weekends on smooth water and sunset barbecues on the deck.

Jim Slade was a lifelong learner and teacher who advanced the use of computers in genealogical research. He was ever eager to help others trace their roots, regardless of their family name. He was the global keeper of the Slade family name through the Guild of One-Name Studies, London, England, and wrote the definitive book, The Descendants of Samuel Slade of Southampton Virginia, tracing his family lineage to the mid-1600’s. He enthusiastically worked to identify and connect the extended Slade family worldwide, even during his last days.

Dad began seriously researching family history in 1975, painstakingly harvesting handwritten and microfiche records from numerous county courthouses before the advent of computers and electronic databases. As computers became widely available in the late 1980’s, he helped pioneer their use as a tool for genealogical research, applying the lessons he had learned with land records and emerging technology in his engineering practice. He helped found and lead the Genealogical Group of the Computer Club of Oklahoma City. He served numerous years on the GENTECH Advisory Council and Oklahoma Genealogical Society Board and as National Chairman of the Computer Interest Group of the National Genealogical Society. He eventually was elected to the board of directors of the National Genealogical Society. He lectured frequently at national and regional genealogy conferences and built a ‘second career’ as a lecturer aboard the Royal Caribbean and Cunard Cruise Lines, helping educate and entertain passengers and crew on passages of the Royale Crowne Dynasty and the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ships, among others.

Dad was driven to make life better for his loved ones. He was never without a list of to-dos, or a plan for today, tomorrow, and next week. After Mom’s passing in 2014 left him without a life partner, he built a new circle of friends at his independent living facility, The Statesman. He served several years as council president, and enthusiastically participated in numerous activities, including excursions, swimming, bridge, and parties, winning the annual Halloween costume competition multiple times.

He cheered his beloved Sooners teams in all sports, especially women’s softball. He advised and assisted with his daughters’ backyard landscaping and loved flowers of every kind and color.

Dad was a 62-year member of First Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City, serving as deacon, elder, and trustee, including trustee chair for multiple terms. He was a gentle, loving person who lived a quiet but powerful faith. He cared deeply for his family, his friends, his profession, and genealogical research. Dad faced his deteriorating health with positivity, wit, and grace, even as he knew his days were growing few. Our family thanks all those who cared for him, especially his many caregivers at Baptist Integris and Frontier Hospice, as he dealt with a progression of health challenges with brave dignity.

We miss him terribly, but always with smiles about his many stories, drawn from his incredibly sharp memory and attention to detail. Friends are invited to join the family in celebrating his life at 1 PM on Monday, August 2 at First Presbyterian Church of Oklahoma City, following a private interment ceremony at Memorial Park Cemetery. The family suggests that remembrances be made in the form of a donation to the Endowment Fund of the First Presbyterian Church of Oklahoma City, 1001 NW 25th Street, Oklahoma City, OK or to the Oklahoma Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 12986, Oklahoma City, OK 73157-2986.

Many genealogists applaud the concept of assisting law enforcement officials helping identify those who commit violent crimes. However, the  agreement isn't unanimous. Many conservatives point out that identifying potential criminals by use of DNA evidence is a violation of privacy laws, perhaps being in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

A YouTube video at https://www.newsy.com/stories/the-debate-behind-using-genealogy-to-solve-crimes/ helps explain both sides of this controversy. 

The following announcement was written by the Israel Genealogy Research Association:

Jerusalem, July 25, 2021

In 2012 the Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA) took it upon itself, to prepare databases from materials available in Israel that include the Ottoman period through the early years of the State of Israel to be accessible on our website. In 2019 IGRA decided to widen its focus to include materials of genealogical interest for North African Jewish communities, and the Jewish communities in countries of the Middle East such as Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and others. That additional material will be mainly based on materials in archives in Israel such as the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP), the Central Zionist Archives (CZA), the Council of the Sephardi and Oriental Communities of Jerusalem (part of the Jerusalem Municipal Archives), the National Library of Israel, the Historical Archive of Rehovot, Yad Ben-Zvi, the Montefiore Endowment in London, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), and databases donated by Jeff Malka from SephardicGen, Dov Cohen, Nagi Georges Zeidan, and Sarina Roffe.

Over 100 volunteers have worked on this collection in the last 10 years. Most volunteers have worked on transcription, and some have worked on proofing, transliteration, and scanning. We thank them all for the time they have devoted.

A small part of the IGRA collection has come to us through private donations from people who have prepared the files for their own use. Our latest contribution was found in the FDR library. It was a list of people in the United States applying to the British Mandate government to grant certificates for people in Hungary to immigrate to Palestine. The list was dated 1944.

IGRA has material from more than 60 archives and libraries around the world. The list can be seen here:

https://genealogy.org.il/igra-salutes-participating-archives/. Our collection has been tagged as belonging to 15 different types, enabling the researcher to choose the types of material relevant to his/her search. Only after you have searched for a name, will the website show the types of records the collection has for that name. The following chart is of the types of records in the collection as of June 2021.

On the side of IGRA's All Israel Database page, there are various filters allowing you to focus on specific parts of the collection. They are to be used after you have done your search by name. The filters are:

• Record Type
• Top Surnames in Your Search (limited to 10),
• Top Given Names in Your Search (limited to 10),
• Filter by Localities in Israel,
• Filter by Countries (in those cases where the file deals with people outside of Israel),
• Filter by Record Years (The materials of the last 70 years can only be included if they have been made public),
• Filter by Record Sources,
• Filter by Record Repositories,
• Filter by Record Databases

IGRA does its outmost to allow the material to be searched both in Hebrew and English. Our search engine allows you to search either with exact results or phonetic matches. The rules of transliteration we follow may not always show the name as you think the names of the person were spelled. It is best to search in both Hebrew and English.

You can begin your search after registering to the website. Use of the search engine registering to the website is free, but details and available scans can only be seen if you have a paid subscription.

Enjoy.

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

Warning: This article contains personal opinions.

I was surprised and a bit dismayed this week when I read about the discovery of a lot of old records at a county courthouse. Local archivists spent thousands of hours sorting, filing, and organizing the documents. They repaired damaged documents and worked hard to preserve all the documents for examination by future historians, genealogists, social scientists, deed searchers, and others.

Such efforts are commendable. A handful of people labored intensely so that many others will be served in the future. Then I read one more line: the archivists also microfilmed the records. Microfilmed? My heart sunk. Hey folks, this is the twenty-first century!

Microfilm is so “nineteen eighties.” Today we have better and cheaper methods that will serve many more people.

In case you haven’t noticed, microfilm is disappearing. In fact, it is almost impossible to purchase a new microfilm camera today, and microfilm readers are slowly disappearing. What’s more, the parts and expertise to repair that equipment are costly when you can find them. I expect that we will have microfilm readers available in libraries for another ten years or so as usage dwindles and the equipment wears out. Eventually, such readers will be available only in (a few) museums.

Even worse, who has a microfilm reader in their home these days? How will future genealogists and others access these records? They will need to travel cross country at great expense to examine the originals in person. While microfilms may exist, nobody will be able use them.

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/10770749.

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.

I had to smile a bit today when reading an article in the Boston Globe about the "problem" of incomplete birth certificates. It seems the city of Boston has many birth records from years ago where the baby's name is simply recorded as “baby girl” or “baby boy.” The reporter wrote, "A generation ago — when more families had six or more children — babies without official first names were surprisingly common. Overwhelmed new parents would leave the hospital without completing birth certificate paperwork."

You can read more in an older article by Andrew Ryan in the Boston Globe at: http://bit.ly/2pedZ7w. The same article tells how to amend a record and add a first name by providing documentation.

Actually, the "problem" is not unique to Boston nor to any particular area of the United States. An experienced genealogist probably can tell you of numerous other, similar examples. I have seen it many times, especially in the case of my mother and her siblings.

My mother’s birth record at the town clerk’s office in Ashland, Maine, records her first name as “baby girl.” All of her older brothers and sisters in the family were recorded as “baby girl” or “baby boy.” However, the younger siblings (of the 16 children) are recorded with their correct first names. The same is true for many, many other families in the same town, recorded in the same records.

When my mother had to obtain her first Social Security card, it was a minor problem. Since there was no birth record showing her true first name, she had to get affidavits from several people who remembered the event. That wasn’t hard for her as her mother (my grandmother) was still alive at the time and she gladly submitted an affidavit saying that she remembered the event well! Apparently, all of my mother's older brothers and sisters had to do the same when they applied for Social Security cards.

I have heard a number of different stories about why this practice was common and some of those stories contradict the other stories. As a result, I don’t know what the truth is except that, after reading the town clerk’s records and the records of other town clerks in the area, I do know it was a common practice in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Boston officials estimated that in the 1950s, roughly 1 of every 25 birth certificates lacked a first name.

I will disagree with one statement in Andrew Ryan's article in the Boston Globe: "Overwhelmed new parents would leave the hospital without completing birth certificate paperwork." In the case of my mother, her siblings, and my grandmother, there was no hospital involved. The nearest hospital was more than 20 miles away, a difficult trip at any time of the year and impossible during the winters in northern Maine where 3 or 4 feet of snow was common and the (dirt) roads were never plowed in the winter. (My mother was born in late March when show in northern Maine was still 3 or 4 feet deep on the unplowed roads.)

My grandmother gave birth to all 16 of her children at home. I suspect many of your ancestors did the same.

My grandfather owned a horse and a farm wagon, roughly the 1890s equivalent of the pickup truck of today. He traveled around the farming village where he lived at 3 or 4 miles per hour. When he needed to travel a longer distance, such as to the nearby city, he rode a train that reached speeds as high as 35 mph. Granddad never bought one of those new-fangled automobiles.

My father was of “the modern generation.” His first car was a well-used Model A Ford, and he went on to own an assortment of Fords, Plymouths, DeSotos, and Dodges over the years. Oh yes, one year when he worked a lot of overtime in the local factory, he bought a Cadillac. He drove most everywhere he wanted to go. He drove 50 or 60 miles an hour most everywhere. I don’t remember him ever taking a train.

Of course, I am of a still more “modern age,” and I love sports cars. I have owned a number of them, and I presently own a Corvette that is fast. Very fast. I am told it will travel 195 miles per hour although I cannot vouch for that from experience. Prior to that automobile, I owned others capable of similar speeds.

I used to commute to the city every day and sometimes drove a very powerful and very fast sports car to work every day, traveling down the local superhighway during the height of the rush hour. Many times I averaged 3 or 4 miles an hour for extended periods of time. The traffic into and out of the city often crawls at that speed for hours.

Driving a 6-speed manual transmission isn't much fun in stop-and-go traffic. I eventually gave up on driving the car to work. I started taking the train. The local commuter rail averages 35 mph on a daily commute.

I am more like my grandfather than I want to be.

Recently a researcher compared the travel times in the city of London through the years. He noticed that the amount of time it took to go from point A to point B in horse-and-buggy days was the same as it was after automobiles became common. Then he noticed that the time required today to travel the same routes is actually worse during rush hour than it was in horse-and-buggy days.

Newer and more efficient mechanisms attract throngs of people who then clog the system. The results nullify the improvements. The large amount of horse manure in the streets has been replaced by airborne hydrocarbons; both are unwanted byproducts of our transportation systems of the day.

Are we really better off?

Thanks to the permanence of stone tablets, ancient books and messages carved into the very walls of buildings by our ancestors, there’s a bias in our culture towards assuming that the written word is by definition enduring. We quote remarks made centuries ago often because someone wrote them down – and kept the copies safe. But in digital form, the written word is little more than a projection of light onto a screen. As soon as the light goes out, it might not come back.

"How would you adjust your efforts to preserve digital data that belongs to you – emails, text messages, photos and documents – if you knew it would soon get wiped in a series of devastating electrical storms?

"That’s the future catastrophe imagined by Susan Donovan, a high school teacher and science fiction writer based in New York. In her self-published story New York Hypogeographies, she describes a future in which vast amounts of data get deleted thanks to electrical disturbances in the year 2250.

"In the years afterwards, archaeologists comb through ruined city apartments looking for artefacts from the past – the early 2000s.

“I was thinking about, ‘How would it change people going through an event where all of your digital stuff is just gone?’” she says.

"In her story, the catastrophic data loss is not a world-ending event. But it is a hugely disruptive one. And it prompts a change in how people preserve important data. The storms bring a renaissance of printing, Donovan writes. But people are also left wondering how to store things that can’t be printed – augmented reality games, for instance."

You can read more about the dangers of losing current information in an article by Chris Baraniuk and published in the BBC web site at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210715-the-online-data-thats-being-deleted.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

Findmypast Friday: new records from Scotland, Australia & Canada

Search new Scottish deaths & burials, Australian passenger lists, Canadian black history records and a huge updates to our collection of historical newspapers.

Does your family tree have roots in Scotland, Ireland or Australia? Dig deeper with thousands of new records and newspapers that could reveal valuable details about the lives of your ancestors.

Scotland, Modern and Civil Deaths & Burials 1855-2021

Do you have relatives that died in Scotland? Search over 62,000 new additions to discover the details of their death, burial, residence, occupation and next of kin in this growing national collection.

Now containing over 3.3 million records, this vast collection has been compiled from a number of sources, including local government burial indexes held by various councils and archives, volunteer & local family history society transcriptions, modern records of funeral homes and civil registers.

Australia, Inward, Outward & Coastal Passenger Lists 1826-1972

Discover your ancestors' immigration to Australia and their travel with over 25,000 new additions to a collection of passenger lists and migration records that contain movement to, from and around the country.

Each record includes a transcript and many also include an image of the original record. Passenger lists vary widely in size, length, and level of detail, as there was no standardised format. Some record only a minimum of information about the passengers, while others are quite detailed.

Canada, Black Nova Scotians 1784-1837

Search for Black and mixed race ancestors in this new collection from the Canadian maritime province of Nova Scotia.

The records are varied and naturally give varying amounts of information, depending upon who created them and for what purpose, and relate to this Black history in all its complexity. You will find individuals who escaped slavery in South Carolina and Virginia, but also the slaves of British Loyalists. You will find those who merely passed through, living their lives for a few years before moving on elsewhere.

Newspapers

Findmypast's newspaper collection continues to grow. This week's massive update sees one brand new paper, the Newark Herald (1873-1949), join the archive while updates have been made to 48 existing titles, including;

• • Alston Herald and East Cumberland Advertiser from 1875, 1877 and 1879
  • Arbroath Guide from 1961
  • Barrhead News from 1914
  • Birmingham Mail from 1877 and 1912
  • Blackpool Gazette & Herald from 1874 and 1876
  • British Standard from 1865
  • Court Gazette and Fashionable Guide from 1838
  • Dartmouth & South Hams chronicle from 1913
  • Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette from 1858-1874 and 1876-1879
  • East Kent Times and Mail from 1901, 1903, 1932, 1962-1963 and 1978
  • Eastern Counties’ Times from 1893, 1897, 1902, 1910, 1914-1915, 1921-1922, 1930 and 1933
  • Evening Star (London) 1842
  • Fermanagh Herald from 1914
  • Huntly Express from 1914
  • Indian Daily News from 1902
  • Kenilworth Advertiser from 1874-1876 and 1912
  • Kentish Gazette from 1877-1882 and 1885-1886
  • Lady’s Own Paper from 1866 and 1868-1872
  • Lancashire Evening Post from 1958
  • Leicester Evening Mail from 1910
  • Leven Mail from 1961
  • Liverpool Daily Post from 1895
  • Lloyd’s List from 1913
  • London Packet and New Lloyd’s Evening Post from 1809, 1815, 1821-1829 and 1833
  • Lowestoft Journal from 1914
  • Montrose Standard from 1961
  • Morning Herald (London) from 1818 and 1832
  • New Times (London) from 1819-1820, 1826 and 1829
  • Northern Chronicle and General Advertiser for the North of Scotland from 1913
  • Northern Scot and Moray & Nairn Express from 1914
  • Northern Weekly Gazette from 1868, 1872-1876 and 1898
  • Patriot from 1832-1857
  • Portsmouth Evening News from 1956-1959
  • Runcorn Examiner from 1870 and 1876
  • Satirist; or, the Censor of the Times from 1849
  • Southport Visiter from 1898
  • St. Helens Examiner from 1886 and 1893
  • Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser from 1911
  • Swindon Advertiser and North Wilts Chronicle from 1913
  • Teignmouth Post and Gazette from 1897
  • The Day from 1809-1810, 1813-1814 and 1816
  • The Referee from 1914
  • Warrington Examiner from 1876
  • Waterford Star from 1901-1902, 1905 and 1912-1913
  • Weekly Chronicle (London) from 1856
  • Weymouth Telegram from 1897
  • Widnes Examiner from 1876 and 1919
  • Windsor and Eton Express from 1914
  • Witney Gazette and West Oxfordshire Advertiser from 1913