The New York, U.S., Almshouse Ledgers, 1758-1952 holds a total of 1,113,040 entries in the collection. Around 486,894 Irish-born individuals are listed, making it the largest single group in the collection – more than the USA-born total.

Almshouses were charitable houses provided to people in a particular community and were used as workhouses, soldiers’ barracks, hospitals, penitentiaries, and asylums. Similar to workhouses and poorhouses in England, the goal of an almshouse was to house the extremely poor in exchange for labor, if the tenants were able.

During the era of the almshouse, many immigrants arrived in New York. Those fleeing famine and persecution often had few resources available and may have found their way to an almshouse. 

Initially spread throughout New York City, all almshouses were relocated to Blackwell’s Island (now known as Rosevelt Island) by 1845.

Most almshouses were overcrowded, crime-riddled, underfunded, and rampant with disease. Throughout the era of the almshouse, many departments oversaw the almshouse system and made attempts at reform. Almshouses eventually faded away as residential development began on the island. 

The collection contains records for individuals admitted to almshouses between 1758 and 1952 in New York City. The ledgers contained in this collection detail admissions, (voluntary or otherwise), discharges, deaths, and census information for the various types of almshouses. You can view the collection on Ancestry.com at https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62048/.

For more information about the New York, U.S., Almshouse Ledgers, 1758-1952, read “Guide to the Almshouse Ledgers, 1758-1952.” New York City Municipal Archives. Last Modified 2016 at https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/records/pdf/Almshouse_REC0008_MASTER.pdf.

Some believe preserving family history is a hobby, while others feel it is their responsibility. Now with Ancestry.com DNA testing and online records, the ways of conducting research have changed.

Groups, like the Clark County (Washington) Genealogical Society, are finding ways to keep up with the continuous technological advances, even with setbacks caused by the pandemic.

The genealogical society reopened its library to the public on July 13, the first time since spring 2020, said Vice President Marcia Grubb.

“The digital world exists, but we help people get started,” Grubb said.

You can read more in an article by Madysen McLain in The Reflector at https://www.thereflector.com/stories/climbing-the-family-tree-clark-county-genealogical-society-reopens-library-to-the-public,269738.

The Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society will reopen the Sahyun Library on Tuesday, Aug. 3, following over a year-long closure due to the pandemic. The library is at 316 Castillo St., Santa Barbara.

"Someday we'll look back on this Covid year as a minor interruption in our lives," said Art Sylvester, Society Board co-president. "But in the short term, it has been a great disruption in the operation and services our Sahyun Library provides for our genealogical society members."

While society meetings and genealogical presentations were provided online via Zoom over the past year, members are looking forward to gathering in person and assisting each other and the community with research.

"I have a ton of questions and hints from my genealogy work during this pandemic," said Bob Basen, board co-president. "I can hardly wait for the Sahyun Library to open to seek these answers, and to see some old friends who can help me."

"A single bottle of tonic to cure diabetes, cancer, ulcers and dizziness. Raisins and currants for Christmas mince meat pies. Midwifery courses taught by a certified female doctor, $30 a term. A souvenir stone from the Hill Cumorah, “guaranteed genuine,” mailed from New York for 25 cents.

"This list represents just a sampling of the goods and services advertised to Utah frontier women in the Woman’s Exponent, the preeminent woman’s newspaper published in Salt Lake City from 1872 to 1914 to share local and general news, household tips and educational materials. Thanks to an ongoing project by the BYU Office of Digital Humanities and the Harold B. Lee Library, anyone can now explore life in nineteenth-century Utah through a new searchable, browsable database of the newspaper’s ads.

“Studying advertisements is a bit like digging through the trash because it’s really the part of history that was never meant to be a historical record,” said BYU digital humanities professor Jeremy Browne, who wrote software to categorize the Exponent’s 4,000 ads by industry, vendor and date. “The ads have a certain authenticity to them that we don’t get elsewhere. The project’s purpose is to take one aspect of the newspaper that is more approachable and make it accessible to the general public.”

You can learn more in an article by Christie Allen in the BYU News at https://news.byu.edu/intellect/curious-about-utahs-frontier-women-browse-byus-new-database-of-womens-newspaper-ads.

Fold3 has added a new collection of WWI records to our archives! The U.S. WWI Burial Cards document the death and burial of over 78,000 American soldiers in WWI. These cards contain information including:

• Name of the deceased
• Unit assigned
• Date and cause of death
• Burial location
• Final resting place if reinterred
• Emergency contact information

Read More at https://blog.fold3.com/new-world-war-i-records-added.

Here is a URL you might want to save "just in case." In this case, it is in case your computer become infected with the ransomware malware.

"The decryptors available in the No More Ransom repository have helped more than six million people to recover their files for free," the Europol recently announced. 

"This prevented criminals from earning almost a billion euros through ransomware attacks. Currently offering 121 free tools able to decrypt 151 ransomware families, it unites 170 partners from the public and private sector."

How does it work?

No More Ransom aims to help victims recover their encrypted files, raise awareness of the ransomware threat, and provide ransomware victims and the general public with direct links to report attacks.

To get a decryptor, you have to upload two encrypted files and the ransomware note via No More Ransom's Crypto Sheriff, which will try to match them against a list of available decryption tools.

If a match comes up, you will get a link to a suitable ransomware decryptor that comes with detailed instructions on how to unlock files.

If no decryptor is available, you'll be advised to check again for a match in the future since new unlock tools are added to the database regularly.

No More Ransom is available at: https://www.nomoreransom.org.

Be prepared!

According to the No More Ransom web site:

Regularly back up data stored on your computer, so a ransomware infection wouldn’t destroy your personal data forever.

It's best to create two backup copies: one stored in the cloud (remember to use a service that makes an automatic backup of your files) and one stored physically (portable hard drive, thumb drive, extra laptop, etc.) Disconnect these from your computer when you are done.

Windows and Apple ship their computers with built-in cloud backup functionalities like the regular Windows backup or the Apple Time Machine. Your backup copies will also come in handy should you accidentally delete a critical file or experience a hard drive failure.

Don’t click on links in spam, unexpected or suspicious emails.

Never open attachments in emails from someone you don’t know. Cybercriminals often distribute fake email messages that closely resemble email notifications from an online store, a bank, the police, a court, or a tax collection agency. They lure recipients into clicking on a malicious link that will release the malware into their system.

Be aware that any account can be compromised, and malicious links can be sent from email and social media accounts of friends, colleagues or an online gaming partner. If an attachment you've received from a contact seems suspicious, it's better to ask the sender about it on a trusted channel, such as a phone call.

Avoid sharing personal data.

Cybercriminals planning a ransomware attack will try to gather your personal data in advance, so as to make their trap more convincing. They will do so, for instance, through phishing emails targeting you specifically.

• If you receive a call, text, or email from an untrusted or unverified source that asks for personal information, don't provide it. Always confirm the contact's authenticity.
• If you are contacted by a company asking for information, ignore the request. Instead, contact the company independently, via the contact details on its official website, to verify whether this request is genuine.

Be meticulous with sensitive data.

Sensitive data must be treated differently from day-to-day data.

• Store pictures, business documents, personal data, etc. on separate devices for longer-term storage.
• Remove data when no longer necessary, such as temp files, browser histories, old pictures/texts, etc.
• Ensure all accounts use unique and strong passwords to mitigate the damage if the credentials are released.
• Update your passwords frequently, and consider using a password manager.
• Also, consider storing sensitive files encrypted at the user level (beyond full-disk encryption).

Consider using multi-factor authentication on your important online accounts.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an extra layer of security used to make sure that people trying to gain access to an online service (such as banking, email, or social media accounts) are who they say they are.

After you've entered your username and password, you will be required to provide another piece of information (second step). This information should be something that only you can access, for instance a code sent by text message, or a code generated by an Authenticator.

MFA is available on most of the major online services. While some of them will have it activated by default, in some others you will need to manually switch it on. Check out the security settings of your account (it could also be called 'two-step verification').

Be wary while browsing the internet and do not click on suspicious links, pop-ups, or dialogue boxes.

These are links you don't recognize or don't contain any words that make sense. Clicking on them might download malware to your systems, with the link often not leading to the intended website. If you aren't sure, run the website through a search engine first to see if it really exists.

Browse and download only official versions of software and always from trusted websites.

If you are downloading something on your phone or tablet, make sure you use reputable sources and stores, like the App Store (Apple) or Google Play Store (Android). The best way to determine whether a website is fraudulent is to pay close attention to the URL. The domain name in the URL should match the name of the website. An HTTPS connection and displaying the padlock icon are signs of secure connection, but this doesn't mean you can trust it.

Use robust security products to protect your system from all threats, including ransomware.

Don’t switch off the ‘heuristic functions’ as these help catch samples of ransomware that have not yet been formally detected.

Never connect unfamiliar USB sticks to your systems.

Don’t insert USB or other removal storage devices into your computer if you do not know where they came from. Cybercriminals may have infected the device with ransomware and left it in a public space to lure you into using it.

Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) when using public Wi-Fi.

When you connect to a public Wi-Fi network, your device is more vulnerable to attacks. To stay protected, avoid using public Wi-Fi for confidential transactions, or use a secure VPN.

Ensure that your security software and operating system are up to date.

When your operating system (OS) or applications release a new version, install it. If the software offers the option of automatically installing updates, take it.

Do not use high privilege accounts (accounts with administrator rights) for daily business.

Admin rights allow users to install new software and control the way the systems operate. Perform daily tasks through a standard user account instead. This will help prevent harming your system if you click on a malicious executable file or if a hacker infiltrates the network.

Enable the ‘Show file extensions’ option in the Windows settings on your computer.

This will make it much easier to spot potentially malicious programs. Stay away from file extensions such as ‘.exe’, ‘.vbs’ and ‘.scr’. Scammers can queue multiple extensions to disguise a malicious executable such as a video, photo, or document (like hot-chics.avi.exe or doc.scr).

Turn on local firewall.

Turn on your local firewall to defend against unauthorized access.

• On Apple devices: System Preferences > Security & Privacy.
• On Windows devices: Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Firewall & network protection.

Infected… What to do next?

1. 1) If you discover a rogue or unknown process on your machine, disconnect it immediately from the internet or other network connections (such as home Wi-Fi) — this will prevent the infection from spreading.
2. 2) Don’t pay the ransom. You will be financing criminals and encouraging them to continue their illegal activities. There is no guarantee that you will get access to your data or device, and you are more likely to be targeted again in the future.
3. 3) Take a photograph or a screenshot of the ransom note presented on your screen.
4. 4) If available, use antivirus or anti-malware software to clean the ransomware from your device. You may have to reboot your system into Safe Mode.
5. 5) Removing the ransomware will not decrypt your files, but it will let you carry out the following steps without new files becoming encrypted.
6. 6) If you had a backup, restore the information, and read our advice to prevent you from becoming a victim again.
7. 7) If you do not have a backup, visit www.nomoreransom.org to check whether your device has been infected with one of the ransomware variants for which we have decryption toolsavailable free of charge. The information regarding the ransomware note will be useful in this process.
8. 8) Report it to your national police. The more information you provide, the more effectively law enforcement can disrupt the criminal enterprise.

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.