Around 1987, there was a man who had a vision for Italian genealogy.  His name was Dr. Thomas Militello, from California and eventually Nevada.  Dr. Tom had trouble trying to find genealogists who were researching the same towns as he was, and what surnames they were researching.  Keep in mind that this was the late 1980s so ancestry.com and FamilySearch did not exist as we know them today and social media was years in the future.

Dr. Tom founded a group called POINT, which stands for Pursuing Our Italian Names Together.  The objective of POINT was to get people to join the group and share information about the Italian surnames and towns they were researching.  They would receive a book with everyone’s surnames and towns, and eventually Dr. Tom created a quarterly magazine called POINTers with articles on research methods, trips to Italy, etc.

In the 1990s, former Fra Noi writer Tony Lascio founded a local chapter of POINT so Chicago-area Italian genealogists could get together and trade information.  Eventually 27 more chapters popped up around the country, including my north suburban chapter that I ran 2001-2014.

You may remember how often I wrote about the doings of the POINT group and chapters way back when I inherited the Fra Noi genealogy column after Tony passed away in 2004.

Dr. Tom was forced by failing health to cease POINT operations in 2013, and he passed away in 2019.  Most of the chapters faded off for various reasons.  So, we are back to not having a way to look for people who are researching the same Italian names and towns that we are. Or are we?

Obviously there are more internet resources than in 1987 to try to find fellow researchers.  They aren’t organized like POINT was, but you can look in a lot of places.

Naturally, social media is a great place to find kindred spirits.  I have looked for genealogy groups for several provinces and regions in Italy and found some connections that way.  Sometimes there’s a genealogy group just about a single town!  There doesn’t seem to be much about genealogy research of specific surnames, but once you join the province or town group, if someone is actively researching that surname, you’ll find ’em!

Both FamilySearch and Ancestry.com allow us to upload our family trees, and each site lets you search other peoples’ trees in the hope of finding a family match, or at least finding who submitted a tree from your town with your grandfather’s surname.  As with any genealogy site, not everyone is actively researching or answering the notes written to them.  So don’t be surprised if your question goes unanswered.  But sometimes these sites show how recently someone has been logged in, and this can help you determine whether the contact is likely to respond soon.  Once you upload your tree, other people might find you and start a family-data-exchange that could be very beneficial.

I am specifically using these sites to try to find people who might have visited Italy and worked with, or photographed, the church records from the ancestral town.  If you are already working with civil records on FamilySearch or Antenati, everyone has basically the same access to the same records.  But if you find that “player” who went to the old hometown and worked with the church records, it might be a gold mine!

And while researching this column, I discovered that the old POINTers archives were acquired by IGG, Italian Genealogy Group.  https://www.italiangen.org/pointers-archive/  You have to be a paid member of IGG to get to these, and the information may be out of date.  Find the name of a person researching your name and town in an old POINTers.  Then use social media to find that person so you can contact them, or their descendants, today.

If you have success using any of these methods, please email me at italianroots@comcast.net and put “POINT” in the subject line.  Happy hunting!

LEGO History enthusiasts have just gotten an early Christmas present! The LEGO Group (specifically the Archivists/Curators/Historians) have quietly launched a very exciting new feature on the LEGO History section of their website – a searchable database cataloguing the complete collection of Wooden Toys from The LEGO Group’s very early years!

For those who appreciate LEGO’s history and heritage, this is an exceptionally huge deal as there is now this treasure trove of official information from 1932-1959, when LEGO founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen began designing and producing wooden toys.

The database is a huge leap forward for digitising all of this official information from LEGO’s nascent years , and allows you to search by product name, product number, launch year and exit year, both in English and Danish. 

For a spot of realism, all the images in LEGO’s former catalogues were in black and white, so the images uploaded to the database have stay trued to the original look. There are still plenty of images that haven’t been uploading yet, but a message in the Introductory section states that “they will get there”. 

I’m not an authoritative LEGO Historian by any means, but I have a deep passion for this era of The LEGO Group’s history, and am slowly adding to my own personal archive of LEGO Wooden Toys, so I’ve been spending a lot of time flicking through the pages and immersing myself in the photos. 

There’s stuff I’ve never seen before like the Hare Wagon (that I’m not sure is documented anywhere else online) and I also loved seeing the wooden Castle.

Another cool thing I’ve seen that’s completely new to me is the Ball Conveyor from 1953, which looks like the ancestor of the Great Ball Contraption! 

And yes, you can also check out items like the Wooden Rifle, Peace Gun and Blunderbuss too!

This thing is just a treasure trove of early LEGO History, and will be an invaluable tool for amateur LEGO Historians and Collectors who want to learn more about LEGO’s Wooden Toys, but also as official reference material. 

Do check out the LEGO Wooden Toy archive and while you’re there, the entire LEGO History section is a fantastic resource for those who can’t quite get to Denmark and visit The LEGO House history collection, or the LEGO Idea House. 

To get the latest LEGO news and LEGO Reviews straight in your inbox, subscribe via email, or you can also follow on Google News, or socials on Facebook, Instagram (@jayong28), Twitter or subscribe to the Jay’s Brick Blog Youtube channel.

Subscribe to receive updates on new posts and reviews!

Almost 100,000 pages of records from the Foundling Hospital, England’s first home for babies who were unable to be cared for by their parents, have today been made available online for the first time.

Almost 100,000 Pages of Records from the Foundling Hospital, England’s First Home for Babies who were unable to be cared for by their parents, have today been made available online for the first time.

The digital archive, launched by Coram, which was established as the Foundling Hospital in London in 1739, brings to life the previously untold stories of over 20,000 children who grew up at the Hospital and of their birth mothers. 

Today’s digital archive launch is the culmination of Coram’s five-year programme, Voices Through Time: The Story of Care, made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Coram has digitised 405 volumes in the archive, almost a quarter of the entire collection, spanning 1739 to 1899. Nearly 6,500 volunteers from around the world helped transcribe the digital pages to enable detailed searching of their contents.

The digital images and their transcripts are free to access online. In addition to the records about the children, the digital archive contains intimate and moving petition letters from mothers seeking the admission of their children into the Foundling Hospital, and books containing tokens left as a symbol of the connection between mother and child.

The digital archive provides a rich historical resource for research into the lives of working-class women across England, and the history of education, childcare, employment, medicine, disability, textiles, and more. Family historians will find details of children, parents, Hospital staff, and apprenticeship masters and mistresses.

Dr Carol Homden, CEO of Coram, said: “Coram’s digital Foundling Hospital archive provides a new opportunity to research this fascinating chapter in our history as the first and longest continuing children’s charity and help us better to understand the evolution and continuing needs of children’s social care.

“Through these extensive and detailed records, we are able to discover the untold stories of thousands of children who were raised at the Foundling Hospital in the 18th and 19th centuries, and hear rare first-person accounts of the issues faced by women who had no source of support in the harsh environment before the welfare state. It enables us to learn more about the evolution of social attitudes to children’s rights and welfare and the role Coram has and continues to play in pioneering good practice and developing children’s services since 1739.

“We are enormously grateful to the thousands of volunteers who participated in the programme, care-experienced young people who have shared their own stories, and to The National Lottery Heritage Fund in enabling us to preserve this precious archive for future generations.”

Alongside the digital archive launch, Coram has today unveiled Echoes of Care: The living history of Coram and the Foundling Hospital, a new immersive art installation exploring the past and present of the care system. The exhibition at Coram Campus in Bloomsbury, London, is the creative culmination of the Voices Through Time programme. It integrates words, images and audio produced by care-experienced young people across five years of creative projects, with details of the lives of Foundlings and their mothers.

Developed in collaboration with care-experienced young people, the installation explores the role of the Foundling Hospital, highlights the unexpected relationships young people forge on their journeys, and challenges the assumptions made about young people in care by illuminating eternal themes and calling for change for the future.

There will also be an evening of discussion and celebration on 24 October, as part Bloomsbury Festival programme, to mark the exhibition and archive launch. Book free tickets at coramstory.org.uk/explore/content/event/echoes-of-care-the-celebration/.

To access the Foundling Hospital Archive online, please visit coramstory.org.uk/the-foundling-hospital-archive/.

Mount Gilead Public Library (MGPL) Board President Tracy Smith is pleased and excited to introduce Will Staub as the new director of the library.

Staub comes to Mount Gilead from Clarion, Pennsylvania. He obtained his Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in library science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, with a minor in speech pathology.

Guests are likely to find Staub near the circulation desk answering questions or welcoming and chatting with a library patron. He wants to get to know people and sees the library as a place where people don’t just check out books but come together to meet with friends or gather for a program.

“The library is a central pillar of the community,” said Staub. “When people have questions about technology, the library is at the forefront.”

Research and visits to the library were a “way of life” in his home. His father was a professor at Clarion University and his mother an elementary teacher who worked with the Literary Council and was involved with projects with the children’s library department in Clarion.

His internship was with the college library science department at Clarion University, where he was responsible for the university’s ALA accreditation project. He also interned at Franklin, Pennsylvania’s public library.

He said Mount Gilead’s library feels very much like the libraries in Clarion and Franklin, where he has spent a lot of time. While their children’s programs are similar to those here, he said the adult reading programs and book clubs in Mount Gilead are something those other libraries didn’t have, and he’s happy to see them here.

Staub came to the library at the beginning of September, and he’s in the process of looking at the library’s policies and needs. He’s looking into possible programs for teens and homeschool students. He took classes in researching genealogy and was impressed with all the resources for studying genealogy in the MGPL annex.

Staub said he sees a librarian as a kind of “jack of all trades” who has knowledge and is familiar with many areas of interest and study for patrons. One of his favorite things is working with people who have questions.

“When you learn about patrons’ interests, you learn about them as well as learning about a subject yourself,” said Staub. “That’s something about libraries. You learn something new every day.”

Outside the library, he enjoys hiking, going to the gym, exploring new areas, cooking and reading.

Smith said Staub was chosen by the library board from a field of six or seven applicants. He said Staub talks with people easily, and the staff was also impressed as he chatted with them while he waited for his interview with the board.

“He impressed all the library board members with his positive attitude and eagerness to get to work,” said Smith. “We are very pleased he is part of our team.”

For more about the library’s programs and resources, the website is mglibrary.org.

Located at 41 E. High St., the library is open Monday through Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Lancaster Virginia Historical Society (LVHS) on Saturday, October 12, dedicated the Dunton Library for Genealogy and History in honor of Ammon G. Dunton Jr. (left) for his longtime support of community history preservation and education efforts and his many contributions to LVHS as a board member, past president and chairman of the library capital campaign. The new facility on the LVHS campus in Lancaster provides improved space for library users and for the society’s collection of more than 8,000 books, research files, county record indexes, family charts, oral histories and other reference materials, reported executive director Karen Hart (right). Within the facility, the Genealogy Wing was dedicated in memory of Elizabeth Combs Peirce and the History Wing was dedicated in memory of Marion and Lorena Dobyns Conner and Edward Longworth and Mary Latane Tadlock, thanks to generous gifts from their families

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s international arm on Wednesday launched an updated version of its artificial intelligence-powered translation tool that, it says, is better than products offered by Google, DeepL and ChatGPT.

That’s based on an assessment of Alibaba International’s new model, Marco MT, by translation benchmark framework Flores, the Chinese company said.

Alibaba’s fast-growing international unit released the AI translation product as an update to one unveiled about a year ago, which it says already has 500,000 merchant users. Sellers based in one country can use the translation tool to create product pages in the language of the target market.

The new version is based only on large language models, allowing it to draw on contextual clues such as culture or industry-specific terms, Kaifu Zhang, vice president of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group and head of the business’ artificial intelligence initiative, told CNBC in an interview Tuesday.

“The idea is that we want this AI tool to help the bottom line of the merchants, because if the merchants are doing well, the platform will be doing well,” he said.

Large language models power artificial intelligence applications such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which can also translate text. The models, trained on massive amounts of data, can generate humanlike responses to user prompts.

Alibaba’s translation tool is based on its own model called Qwen. The product supports 15 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian.

Zhang declined to share how much the updated version would cost. He said it was included in some service bundles for merchants wanting simple exposure to overseas users.

His thinking is that contextual translation makes it much more likely that consumers decide to buy. He shared an example in which a colloquial Chinese description for a slipper would have turned off English-speaking consumers if it was only translated literally, without getting at the implied meaning.

“The updated translation engine is going to make Double 11 a better experience for consumers because of more authentic expression,” Zhang said, in reference to the Alibaba-led shopping festival that centers on Nov. 11 each year.

Alibaba’s international business includes platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, which primarily targets Southeast Asia. The international unit reported sales growth of 32% to $4.03 billion in the quarter ended June from a year ago.

That’s in contrast to a 1% year-on-year drop in sales to $15.6 billion for Alibaba’s main Taobao and Tmall e-commerce business, which has focused on China.

The Taobao app is also popular with consumers in Singapore. In September, the app launched an AI-powered English version for users in the country.

Nomura analysts expect that Alibaba’s international revenue slowed slightly to 29% year-on-year growth in the quarter ended September, while operating losses narrowed, according to an Oct. 10 report. Alibaba has yet to announce when it will release quarterly earnings.

From an article by Emily Bloch published in The Philadelphia Inquirer:

23andMe is facing scrutiny, with some experts calling it the beginning of the end for the popular genetic testing company. It’s been a rocky year for the saliva-based DNA testing brand, including a high-profile data breach and resignations from the company’s board last month.

Users are wondering what’s next — and if their personal data (including their literal DNA) are safe.

Here’s what we know.

What happened with the 23andMe data breach?

In October 2023, 23andMe launched an investigation after a “threat actor” claimed to have obtainedmillions of users’ personal data.

By December, the company confirmed through a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that a hacker directly accessed 0.1% of its users’ accounts, or about 14,000 profiles. Still, because of the networks individual users can build, connecting their information to other possible relatives, the hacker was able to view the information of millions of users.

A spokesperson for the company told news outlets at the time that 6.9 million people had been affected: about 5.5 million customers who had opted into 23andMe’s “DNA Relatives” feature and 1.4 million users whose family tree information was accessed.

Information accessed included:

1. Display name, profile picture, and birth year.

2. How recently they had logged into their account.

3. Their relationship status.

4. Their self-reported location by city and zip code.

5. Predicted relationships with others.

6. DNA percentages users share with their “DNA Relatives.”

The company added that an additional 1.4 million customers who used the “DNA Relatives” feature had their “Family Tree” profiles accessed, which includes a limited subset of profile data.

23andMe said at the time that the hacker activity was contained and required existing users to reset their passwords and enable multifactor authentication for logging in.

The issue resulted in a class-action lawsuit that was filed in January and settled this month.

Who is eligible for 23andMe settlement money?

As part of the settlement, 23andMe admitted to no wrongdoing and agreed to pay $30 million to affected parties, including up to $10,000 to people who experienced significant losses, like identity theft, as a result of the breach.

The settlement will affect the millions of users whose data were targeted in the leak. In order to qualify, an affected 23andMe user must have been a U.S. resident on Aug. 11, 2023.

As of publication time, there’s no way to submit a claim to be a part of the settlement. Affected users will need to visit the 23andMe settlement website and enter their information when it becomes available, according to Forbes. The site will offer an online claim form and a downloadable PDF version if you prefer to submit by mail.

Why did the entire board resign?

The entire 23andMe board of independent directors resigned last month, a rare move in the business world that experts say foreshadows an unstable situation.

The seven directors said in a letter addressed to 23andMe cofounder and CEO Anne Wojcicki that they had not received a plan regarding the company’s future that inspired confidence.

Wojcicki previously expressed a desire to take 23andMe private, which sparked concern among the board members.

“While we continue to wholeheartedly support the Company’s mission and believe deeply in the value of the personalized health and wellness offering that you have articulated, it is also clear that we differ on the strategic direction for the Company going forward,” the letter said. “Because of that difference and because of your concentrated voting power, we believe that it is in the best interests of the Company’s shareholders that we resign from the Board rather than have a protracted and distracting difference of view with you as to the direction of the Company.”

Wojcicki responded to the resignations through an employee memo in which she expressed her “surprise” and disappointment in the directors’ decision. She added that she still believed taking 23andMe private was the best option, but clarified that she isn’t considering third-party takeover proposals.

Wojcicki said she would identify new directors to join the board. She remains the only board member listed on the company’s website.

Is 23andMe safe to use now?

Experts say 23andMe users’ data are no more at risk today than it has ever been, but added that customers should review the company’s privacy policies and think about which data are available and where they want them shared.

Customers can consent to 23andMe sharing their anonymized genetic information with third-party companies for various reasons, including medical research. Experts told CBS that this type of data sharing can come with vulnerabilities, but that they are not unique to 23andMe.

About 80% of 23andMe customers consent to participate in the company’s research program, which has generated nearly 300 peer-reviewed publications regarding genetic insights into disease, the company said.

Still, users became more concerned when Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, raised flags about the company in a social media post.

“If you have a 23andme account, today is a good day to log in and request the deletion of your data,” she wrote on X.

How can I delete my data from 23andMe?

To delete an account, users can log in and go to the Account Settings tab. Users will go through the prompts and identity verification before getting an email asking for confirmation to delete the account. Deleting an account is irreversible.

However, deleting an account doesn’t necessarily delete all of a user’s personal information associated with it. The company plans to hang on to some genetic information and personal details including sex, birthday, email address, and details about the account’s deletion request, MIT Technology Review reported.

For users who opted into sharing anonymized genetic data with third parties, there is no way to delete the information or retract what has already been shared.

Are there alternatives to 23andMe?

All online DNA testing services come with some privacy concerns, but legal guidelines to regulate personal data serve as a safeguard. For some users looking for answers to health mysteries or to find missing links to their family trees, the trade-off is worth it.

Because of 23andMe’s uncertain future, review sites like the New York Times’ Wirecutter have stopped recommending the service in its DNA testing roundups.

The review site recommends AncestryDNA and FamilyTreeDNA as alternatives.

Surry Community College will host a hands-on Genealogy Workshop for Beginners on Friday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to noon. This event will be held in the Carlos Surratt Genealogy room on the second floor of the SCC Library in Dobson. The workshop is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is required.

Designed for those who are new to genealogical research, the workshop will provide a basic overview of the many resources available through Surry Community College, as well as those available in the community and online. Participants will also learn how to use these resources and how to determine the best way to research their own family history.

Due to the hands-on nature of the workshop, space is limited to 10 participants. For more information or to register, please contact Sebrina Mabe, Library and Archives Services Assistant, at (336) 386-3459 or mabesc@surry.edu.

Have you noticed the recent erratic publication of new articles on this web site? Here is the reason why!

In the past month, I have encountered:

I purchased a new home in Maine

I made plans to move to Maine

I packed up all my belongings in preparation for the move

I scheduled a moving company to visit my Florida home on October 9, load a truck with all my belongings, and take everything to Maine.

The strongest hurricane in the past decade struck Florida (including my home) on October 9 with winds of up to 140 mph. The driver of the moving truck postponed the visit to load my possessions due to dangerous conditions on the highways.

The driver of the moving truck finally arrived at my Florida home on October 13 and loaded all my possessions onto the truck but did not leave for Maine due to highway flooding along the route.

On approximately October 16 the driver left Florida for Maine.

On October 20, the driver and the truck arrived at my new home in Maine and unloaded. 

I have since spent many hours unpacking, arranging furniture, made multiple trips to the grocery store to purchase food, and performed many related tasks...

 - Dick Eastman

George Aghjayan will be offering an online program titled “Researching Your Armenian Roots,” sponsored by the Memorial Hall Library in Andover, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Register online for the presentation.

The common misconception that all records related to Armenian heritage have been completely erased has been disproved with the help of social media, DNA testing and crowd-sourced translation projects. Many new Armenian documents are now coming to light. Aghjayan will review how available records can help the Armenian community reclaim its identity and find agency in the face of the crimes that have displaced and separated families over the last 125 years.

Aghjayan has actively researched Armenian genealogy for several decades. He is the director of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Archives and certificate holder from the Boston University Genealogical Studies Program. After a career in both insurance and finance, Aghjayan retired in 2014 to concentrate on Armenian-related research and projects, including family history work. He is a frequent contributor to the Armenian Weekly and Houshamadyan.org, and the creator and curator of westernarmenia.weebly.com, a website dedicated to the preservation of Armenian culture in Western Armenia.

“I’m the local history librarian in Andover, Massachusetts. We have lots of genealogy programs, but never one about Armenians. Lawrence/Merrimack Valley has a sizable Armenian population — so I read about George and called him up,” Stephanie Aude, the Reference and Local History Librarian at Memorial Hall Library, told the Weekly when asked about the development of this event.

“Genealogy continues to be important for Armenians in their tenacity in maintaining their identity,” Aghjayan said. “I feel fortunate to share my experiences with others and thank the Memorial Hall Library in Andover for hosting this event.”

This virtual program will be recorded. A link to the recording will be shared with everyone who registers