NOTE: This article is off-topic: it has nothing to do with genealogy or with online privacy. However, it is something that I believe all cell phone users should be aware of. The online app called Zello could save your life. It is also a great way to communicate with groups of people, such as relatives or members of a search-and-rescue organization. I have been using Zello for non-critical communications for a couple of years now and would hate to be without it. With the hurricane season approaching in the northern hemisphere, this is one app that I want to alway/s have installed on my cell phone!

Zello converts your Android or Apple iOS or Blackberry cell phone or your Windows computer into a general-purpose walkie-talkie. It is sort of a high-tech replacement for CB radio except that Zello converts your cell phone into a free 2-way radio with worldwide range. I have used the free Zello app to talk with friends and relatives in North America free of toll charges while I was walking along the streets of Singapore as well as when I was in New Zealand. I have also used it to talk with communications hobbyists in South America and in the Sahara desert while I was driving in my automobile in Florida.

Zello also was recently used in the Houston area, New Orleans, all over Florida, Puerto Rico, and in other Caribbean islands during the recent hurricanes when wired telephones and emergency two-way radio towers (police, fire, ambulances, and others) were destroyed by the hurricanes. Cell phones also were sometimes knocked offline during the hurricanes but usually were the first communications systems to be restored to operation once the winds subsided.

Perhaps the greatest story of all was the use of Zello by the “Cajun Navy” during Hurricane Irma. According to Wikipedia:

“The Cajun Navy are informal ad-hoc volunteer groups comprising private boat owners who assist in search and rescue efforts in Louisiana and adjacent areas. These groups were formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and reactivated in the aftermaths of the 2016 Louisiana floods and Hurricane Harvey. They are credited with rescuing thousands of citizens during those disasters.

"These groups draw their name from the region's Cajun people, a significant number of whom are private boat owners and skilled boat pilots. Their boats consist of a number of types, but are typically small vessels such as bass boats, jon boats, air boats, and other small, shallow-draft craft easily transported to flooded areas."

Using Zello, these individuals were able to speak with each other while allowing all the other users in their group to hear the same words. For example, one person might say, “This is Pat Jones. I’m on my way to rescuing 6 people stranded on the roof of their home on XYZ Street.” My boat can hold 3 people. Can someone meet me there with another boat?” Another person could respond, “This is Jan Smith. I’m on my way to help Pat Jones. Pat, see you in 5 minutes with space for the other 3 stranded people.” All the other rescuers could hear this exchange, freeing them to look for others in need. At the same time, if someone in need had Zello, they could tell the rescue team where they were and get help dispatched to them.

In all cases, communication with Zello is clear. While I would not call it high-fidelity, my experience with Zello is that it usually produces higher quality audio connections than that of a typical cell phone. There is none of the noise and static bursts that are normally associated with two-way radio communications. In fact, the audio quality on Zello is usually better than that of normal telephone calls.

Unlike CB radio, Zello communications can be public or private, even (optionally) encrypted to lock out would-be hackers and anyone who wants to "eavesdrop" on your conversations. Yes, you can talk privately with your spouse or with your children or with relatives or with co-workers. Then again, you can also talk on a public Zello channel with emergency personnel during a hurricane.

Why wouldn't you simply call the other person on the cell phone? You certainly can do that. In fact, if you wish to talk with only one person and you know that person’s telephone number, use of a normal cell phone call is probably the best way to communicate. HOWEVER, Zello also offers something that is not easy with telephone conversations: the opportunity to talk with groups of people at a time; even people with unknown phone numbers, such as police or ambulance drivers and dispatchers or with Red Cross personnel.

Group conversations are not limited to emergency use only. With Zello, you can have the entire family chat at once or your could have a weekly "family reunion" with all your relatives at a scheduled time, even if some of those relatives are overseas.

Some families use inexpensive “family radio service” (FRS) walkie-talkies to communicate with each other when at various events. I often see families using those FRS walkie-talkies at Disney or Universal Studio theme parks and occasionally at ball parks and other public events. They are a handy method of keeping track of other family members, especially children. The drawback of (FRS) walkie-talkies is a very short range, usually a mile or even less. However, Zello provides a much better alternative. If all the family members already have cell phones, Zello can provide the same functionality over a much wider worldwide range and at no additional expense for additional hardware.

Zello also has become very popular with plumbers, electricians, taxi drivers, delivery personnel, ambulance first responders, and all sorts of tradesmen and women where a corporate dispatcher needs to control the movements of mobile employees. Adding the free Zello app to an existing cell phone is much, much cheaper than purchasing, installing, and licensing two-way radios for everyone and Zello also provides worldwide communications. In short, Zello usually works better than traditional 2-way radios in most situations.

Zello is free for personal or emergency use.

NOTE: A paid version of Zello is available for enterprise uses, but I will ignore that in this article. Payment is not necessary for personal or emergency communications. If you have need for a large, commercial Zello "2-way radio" network, perhaps for your taxi service, look at: https://zello.com/mesh.htm.

Zello works on cellular data networks, either on wi-fi (when available) or on cellular data when outside the range of wi-fi networks. In all cases, the voices of all users are converted to digital signals, sent as data over wi-fi or cellular connections, then converted back to voice at the receiving end. It works in a somewhat similar manner as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephones, such as Skype, Ooma, Vonage, RingCentral, and other VoIP services except that it emulates 2-way radios, not telephones.

Obviously, you do need to be within range of a cell tower or a wi-fi network in order to use Zello. It is not very effective in the sparsely-populated mountains or deserts of the western U.S. However, it works well in all metropolitan areas and in any rural areas that presently have cellular coverage.

Since everything runs on Internet data connections, someone who is using Zello on a wi-fi connection can communicate with someone someone using Zello on cellular data and vice versa. Also, it works between different cell phone companies. Someone using a Verizon cell phone can communicate with someone using a T-Mobile telephone in the U.S. or even a Vodafone system in New Zealand.

Of course, communicating over wi-fi is usually free of charge whereas communication over cellular data may cost money, depending upon the contract you have with your cellular company. In my case, I find that my use of Zello on the Google Fi cellular network while driving in my car adds less than one dollar to my cellular bill each month. That's cheap enough, considering I didn't have to purchase two-way radios and contract with some company to supply radio repeaters.

I am sure a taxi cab company or anyone else who dispatches employees by frequent use of a two-way radio will incur somewhat higher costs, of course. Even so, I suspect the increase in cellular data charges would still be much, much less than purchasing multiple two-way radios and various repeaters. Even then, the 2-way radio systems would not have worldwide coverage in the same manner as Zello. As long as both Zello users are within range of either wi-fi or cellular networks, they can communicate with crystal-clear communications.

Also, the necessary "controls" in Zello are simpler to use than that of most 2-way radios. For instance, with Zello you don’t have to memorize channel numbers; most everything is spelled out in English or, optionally, in any of several other languages.

More than 20 million people around the world are already talking, listening, and sharing ideas on Zello, and that number is increasing rapidly.

I will point out that several other competitive apps are available that also add walkie-talkie capabilities to cell phones. However, Zello seems to be the one that is used in various disasters to contact friends, relatives, neighbors, and first responders. One of the primary reasons seems to be because Zello has the capability to send your precise location (longitude and latitude) to another Zello user simply by pressing one icon on the screen. That is a huge aid for anyone who wants to rescue you, such as a disaster dispatcher. That person or persons will immediately see your exact location.

Zello is available for iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, Blackberry phones, and also for Windows PCs. (There is no Macintosh version, at least not yet.) You can even purchase a "network radio" that functions like a 2-way walkie-talkie or mobile two-way radio installed under your automobile's dashboard which operates on the Internet and can communicate with any other Zello user anywhere else in the world. The "network radios" seem to be most popular with ambulance drivers, delivery drivers, electricians, plumbers, service personnel, and others who are dispatched by a central office. The dispatcher(s) could be in the same city or thousands of miles away, thanks to the communications via the Internet.

Ham radio operators also are frequent users of Internet-connected "network radios." However, I suspect most other private citizens use their cell phones for use on Zello.

If you have an interest in "network two-way radios," see https://network-radios.com/ and https://network-radios.com/index.php/shop/ for more information about "network radios."

NOTE: I purchased a Mobile Network Radio that runs the Android operating system and am using it in my automobile. It functions like a 2-way radio except that it has worldwide range and better audio. It works well as long as I am within range of the cellular network or a wi-fi network. On a recent 1,200-mile trip, I lost communications for only a few minutes when driving through some deep valleys in the mountains. Of course, my cell phone didn’t work in those valleys, either.

A specialized Mobile Network Radio is not requited, however. Most individuals simply install the free Zello app onto their existing Android or iPhone cell phones.

Zello becomes most important in cases of emergencies. There are dozens of reports of Zello users who found help during hurricanes, blizzards, tornados, and traffic accidents.

According to Zello's CEO, more than 120 people downloaded and installed the Zello app PER SECOND during the days before Hurricane Irma. Similar usage patterns have been observed during the recent snow storms in the northeastern U.S. In some countries, such as South Africa, Zello is the primary provider of emergency communications during all sorts of disasters.

You can learn more about the emergency uses of Zello at http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-irma-zello-walkie-talkie-app-how-to-2017-9and also learn more about the “Cajun Navy” at Wikipedia.

The “Cajun Navy” uses a number of Zello channels. Details may be found at: https://zello.com/channels/k/feKMF.

I also know that Zello is popular in some cities during rush hour. It can be used to check with other commuters on the local Interstate highway before entering the on-ramp. Different highways in any one city often have their own Zello channels. For instance, in any city,  there could be an I-95 channel, an I-290 channel, an I-495 channel, and so on.

Truckers seem to still be using traditional CB radios, and I doubt if that will change any time soon. For everyone else, however, Zello seems to provide a better method of communications.

Do you need to coordinate your sports car club’s next auto rally, or is your non-profit group organizing the next Memorial Day parade? Zello can provide the communications at no additional cost to your organization, assuming everyone involved already has cell phones.

You can learn more about the emergency uses of Zello in a video report on the Washington Post web site at: http://wapo.st/2Dzbgv8 and a story at https://wapo.st/2GF0oRY.

Information about Zello is available at http://www.Zello.com and https://zello.com/personal/ while the app may be downloaded from the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store (for Android systems), or from Blackberry World (which functions as the Blackberry App store).

Tutorials on how to use Zello may be found at https://support.zello.com/hc/en-us. You can also find a number of YouTube video tutorials describing the use of Zello by starting at: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Ayoutube.com+zello&t=hy&ia=web.

Not bad for a free app!

Are you prepared with Zello?

The following announcement was written by the U.S. National Genealogical Society:

NGS announced its 2021 award honorees and competition winners at our Virtual 2021 Family History Conference, NGS Live!, on 19 May. The following awards recognize excellence, achievement, and genealogical service.

NGS Award Honorees

National Genealogy Hall of Fame: John T. Humphrey, CG®
NGS introduced its National Genealogy Hall of Fame in 1986. The award honors outstanding genealogists whose achievements in American genealogy have had a great impact on the field. We invite you to visit the National Genealogy Hall of Fame and learn about its honorees. Nominated by the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society, this year’s inductee is John T. Humphrey. Born in Penn Argyl, Pennsylvania, in 1948, he died in Washington, DC, in 2012. Always a scholar, Humphrey had a passion for sharing his knowledge and teaching others.
In demand as a speaker on German and Pennsylvania topics, Humphrey became an expert in reading old German script. In 2008, at Williamsburg's 400th Anniversary Celebration, he gave a keynote address on German contributions to America. Two years later, he was invited to Germany to speak on researching Germans in America. In 2011 he taught the first-ever German course at Samford’s Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research.
Humphrey authored many genealogical articles and books. Two of his most recognized publications are Understanding and Using Baptismal Records and Pennsylvania Births, fifteen volumes of birth and baptism transcriptions. He broke new ground when he unearthed ancestor charts of Nazi SS officers in captured German records housed at the United States National Archives. Humphrey served as president of the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society and vice president of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. He joined the NGS staff as education manager in 2000.
All who heard Humphrey’s lectures, read his books and articles, or participated in NGS activities he initiated, benefited from his knowledge and skills.

The Filby Award for Genealogical Librarianship, sponsored by ProQuest since 2006, honors an outstanding librarian whose primary focus is genealogy and local history. This year’s winner, David E. Rencher AG®, CG, FIGRS, FUGA, is director of the Family History Library (FHL), Salt Lake City, Utah, and the chief genealogical officer for FamilySearch.
Rencher is one of the few genealogists with AG and CG credentials and a renowned lecturer who presents at local, national, and international conferences, institutes, and webinars. In his professional capacity, he partners with archives to digitize historical records and is a trusted collaborator. His leadership in technology advanced the book scanning program for FHL; record-matching methods for FamilySearch databases; and implementation of automated indexes for the 1880 census, the Social Security Death Index, and military casualty files for Vietnam and Korea.

Rencher recently authored Research in Arizona for NGS‘s Research in the States series of guidebooks. He also is the author of numerous articles, particularly regarding Irish research, and a contributing author of NGS’s online course for Continuing Genealogical Studies called War of 1812 Records.

Past president and a Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association, Rencher is currently on the Board of Directors of the National Genealogical Society. He also is a Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society in London; vice president of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History; advisor to the Board of the New England Historic Genealogical Society; and director for Gen-Fed Alumni Association.

The 2021 Conference Award was presented to the Virginia Genealogical Society, Mary Vidlak, president, in recognition of its dedication and sustained service to the 2021 NGS Family History Conference.
Conference Certificates of Appreciation honor the VGS host committee chairs: Mary O’Brien Vidlak, CG, & Chuck Novak; volunteer co-chairs: Katie Derby and Kathy Merithew; registration co-chairs: Donald Moore and Phillip Ciske; publicity co-chairs: Robin Dwyer-Maurice and Teresa Kelly; conference blogger: Shannon Benton; hospitality chair: Catherine Gill; VGS booth co-chairs: Deborah Harvey, CG, and Nicki Peak Birch, CG; VGS events chair: Mary O’Brien Vidlak CG.

President’s Citation

The President’s Citation recognizes and acknowledges particularly dedicated efforts on behalf of the National Genealogical Society. During the past year, in the midst of a historic pandemic, the NGS staff accepted the herculean task of transitioning to a newly merged organization while expanding the Society’s education programs and preparing for our second virtual Family History Conference. Despite lockdowns and changing protocols with all the additional work that resulted, NGS staff exemplified an extraordinary level of professionalism. “With gratitude for their expertise, energy, flexibility, and positive attitude,” NGS President Kathryn Doyle said, “I am thrilled to present this year’s NGS President’s Citation Award to our dedicated staff: Executive Director Matt Menashes; Accounting Manager Karen Soch; Conference Manager Erin Shifflett; Member Services Manager Susan Yockey; and Courtney Holmes, our Registrar for many years.

NGS Competition Winners
The NGS Awards for Excellence are presented for a specific, significant single contribution in the form of a family genealogy or family history book; a publication discussing or demonstrating genealogical methods and sources; or an article published in the NGS Quarterly.

Award for Excellence: Genealogy and Family History Book

This year’s recipient is Kyle Hurst, of Boston, Massachusetts. The title of her book is Ancestors and Descendants of Charles Le Caron and Victoire Sprague.

Honorable mention: Michael Grow, for his book, John Grow of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and Some of His Descendants: A Middle-Class Family in Social and Economic Context from the 17th Century to the Present.

Award for Excellence: Genealogical Methods and Sources

Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGLSM, FASG, FNGS, FUGA, is this year’s recipient. The title of her book is Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice, and Standards.

Honorable mention: Peter J. Malia, for his book, New Haven Town Records, 1769-1819.

Award for Excellence: National Genealogical Society Quarterly

LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD, LLM, CG, CGL, of Washington, DC, received the Award for Excellence for her article, “Parents for Isaac Garrett of Laurens County, South Carolina: DNA Corroborates Oral Tradition,” published in the June 2020 issue of the NGSQ.

The NGS Family History Writing Contest has been a Society tradition since 1986. This year’s winner is Amy Larner Giroux, PhD, CG, CGL, for her paper, “The Many Names of Frances Ellsworth: Correlating Evidence to Identify a Birth Name.”

The NGS Newsletter Competition recognizes the hard work and creativity of volunteer editors who publish the newsletters of our member organizations. The competition reviews them according to size of membership: small organizations (under 500) and large organizations (500 and up).

Large Societies and Organizations:

This year’s winner is The Tracer, newsletter of the Hamilton County (Ohio) Genealogical Society, Eileen Muccino, editor.

Honorable Mention: Virginia Genealogical Society Newsletter, published by the Virginia Genealogical Society, Orange, Virginia, and edited by Birgitte Tessier.

Small Societies and Organizations:

The winner is the Newsletter of the Irish Family History Forum, Long Island, New York, edited by Jim Regan.

Honorable mention: Our Endicott Heritage Trail, John Endecott Family Association, Laurie Endicott Thomas, editor.

The Rubincam Youth Writing Contest was established in 1986 to encourage and recognize our youth as the next generation of family historians. It honors Milton Rubincam, CG, FASG, FNGS, for his many years of service to NGS and to the field of genealogy.

Senior Category (Grades 9 - 12):

Wren Marsh of Houston, Texas, for his entry, “Generation to Generation.”

Honorable mention: Akram Elkouraichi, of Yonkers, New York, for his paper, “Project Hesperides: A Genealogical and Biographical Study of the Elkouraichi Family of Ben Ahmed, Morocco Through the Generations.”

Junior Category (Grades 6 - 8):

Asa Marsh of Houston, Texas, is the winner for his paper, “A Short History of My Grandmother: Helen F. Wren.”

Honorable mention: Ava Bielawski, of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, for her entry, “Dorothy Lundy: A Daughter of Emile Terrenoire, Where the Inspiration Began.”

SLAM! Idea Showcase Awards

On 18 May, during NGS 2021 SLAM! Idea Showcase, six organizations received awards. They were selected from among thirty-two recorded video “poster” presentations highlighting innovative projects, programs, and activities benefiting genealogical researchers. The winners were St. Louis Genealogical Society, St. Louis, Missouri: “Congregation Project”; German Historical Institute, Washington, DC: “German Heritage in Letters”; and Chester County (Pennsylvania) Archives: “1777 Chester County Property Atlas Portal.” Honorable mentions went to Godfrey Memorial Library, Middletown, Connecticut: “Genealogy Roundtable”; Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, Kentucky: “Kentucky Ancestors Town Hall”; and St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis, Missouri: “Rooted in Inclusion: Forgoing the Family Tree Model.”

The National Genealogical Society congratulates all the 2021 award recipients and contest winners. Sincere thanks go to the volunteer judges, chairs, and evaluators from across the country who generously gave their time and expertise to review the submissions for each award and competition. Thanks, too, to Janet Bailey, awards chair, and Susan Yockey of the NGS staff.

Please help us with awards for next year, when we hope to be together again. Consider nominating an individual or organization who exemplifies the qualities we honor with our awards or encouraging someone to participate in one of our competitions.

Technically, this free web site lists "conferences, events, calls-for-paper, contests, grants & scholarships, tours and cruises, and more!" That mouthful is an accurate description of ConferenceKeeper.org.

The web site is described as:

Started by Jen Baldwin in October 2012, Conference Keeper was created as a single go-to website for finding information about genealogy and family history conferences. As Jen became more deeply involved with other genealogical work, Conference Keeper took a break and idled until late in 2015, when Eowyn Langholf and Tami Osmer Mize, co-founders of the genealogy news service WikiChicks, felt the site beckon, and re-ignited the mission and purpose of Conference Keeper. With a new look and an expanded mission, ConferenceKeeper.org again began curating and calendaring the dates and details of genealogy and family history conferences, seminars, workshops, and other events.

Taking a look at the ConferenceKeeper.org web site, you see that it does live up to its name. I started counting how many conferences and other genealogy-related items are listed but I soon gave up. There are hundreds!

The ConferenceKeeper.org site is divided by a convenient classification system: conferences, calendar, locations, opportunities, what’s new, and more. 

Perhaps the most useful feature is the ability to search for keywords (i.e., Conference, Seminar, Workshop). Of course, during the current pandemic, most events are listed as (V), meaning "Virtual."

If you are looking for a specific location/state, you may find it best to search by the two letter abbreviation/space/hyphen (i.e., CA -, VIRTUAL – ), but the easiest way to find location-specific listings is by choosing your country/state from under the Location tab.

Did I mention that the entire web site is available free of charge?  (It is supported by advertising.)

Check out the ConferenceKeeper.org web site at https://conferencekeeper.org/.

I must admit this is a great service being offered by teenagers of today. According to an article by Bill Choy and published in the Mount Shasta Herald:

A group of Siskiyou County youth from the Mount Shasta ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints spent several hours Saturday taking photos of grave stones at Mount Shasta Memorial Park cemetery. The group used the app BillionGraves, which is billed as "the world's largest resource for searchable GPS cemetery data, and is growing bigger ... every day."

The activity was designed to teach the youth about family history and to serve others, said Kirk Andrus, bishop of the local organization, noting it was the perfect activity for a pandemic, since the young adults were able to "work outside, stay safe and perform a valuable service."

The BillionGraves website invites people to help discover and honor ancestors by volunteering in three ways: taking photos, transcribing photos, and researching records, Andrus explained.

The group took and uploaded almost 1,000 photographs, or about a quarter of the sprawling cemetery's gravestones. They plan to return to finish the project, which will be made easier now that they know what they're doing and have developed an organized system.

You can read the full story at: https://www.mtshastanews.com/story/news/2021/04/21/mount-shasta-youth-photograph-gravestones-billiongraves/7281389002/

MyHeritage has added a new filtering option on the DNA Matches page, which enables users to filter their DNA Matches to show only those who are members of a certain Genetic Group.

By filtering your matches based on a Genetic Group, you’ll be able to further pinpoint which matches come from a specific location or region, giving you deeper insight into how you’re related. You can filter the matches based on the Genetic Groups in your results, or use the search field to search for any of the 2,114 Genetic Groups supported on MyHeritage.

Please feel free to try this new feature on your own DNA results.

Here is an opportunity to exercise your detective skills and to possible solve (or at last to help solve) a crime. A group of genetic genealogy enthusiasts is trying to find the identity of a woman who was found dead in a Portland, Maine park in 2015.

The woman is Asian, probably Korean. When her body was discovered, she was well dressed,” Chief Medical Examiner’s Office Administrator Lindsey Chasteen said. “She had on her jewelry, which was nice jewelry. She has fairly extensive and expensive dental work."

The woman was between 30 and 50 years old with tattooed eyebrows and a scar like she had a cesarean section. Her death appeared to be a suicide.

Chasteen said they put her DNA information through a FBI database, known as CODIS, for missing people. They ran her fingerprints through another FBI database in 2015, 2017 and 2021 because it is constantly updating. Her DNA information has also been uploaded to GEDMATCH. However, GEDMATCH is known to contain very little DNA information for Koreans. In any case, there have been no matches so far in any of these databases.

Her name is unknown and her family also is still unknown. As a result, a family someplace has a missing relative and they probably have no idea that she is deceased.

You can read more in an article in the WGME news web site at https://wgme.com/news/local/genealogy-experts-try-to-identify-woman-found-dead-in-portland-in-2015.

If anyone thinks they recognize the woman or has any other information about her, they should contact the Portland, Maine Police Department.

The following is part of an email message sent by Reclaim The Records:

RUN AND TELL THAT: USCIS IS ASKING FOR YOUR PUBLIC COMMENTS ABOUT THEIR PRICE GOUGING

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is actually asking people to tell them all about the problems we've had with their overpriced "Genealogy Program" for historical records. So let's tell them! 

Hello again from your friends at Reclaim The Records! Today we have a time-sensitive opportunity for you: a chance to tell a major federal government agency with millions of never-before-online historical records about how and why they can shape up and do better. If speed-kvetching about genealogy is your thing, now's your chance!

Here's the super-short version of what's going on and what you can do right now (like, today), and here's the super-long comment our organization has formally submitted to make the case for better public records access.

And here's the much longer backstory. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) holds millions of historical immigration and naturalization records that have never been given over to the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), even though their own agency's record retention policies say they were supposed to have been transferred years ago. In this context, "records" means all sorts of historical material: C-Files (Naturalization Certificate Files), AR-2's (Alien Registration Forms), Visa Files, and more. Any immigrant who arrived in the US on or after July 1, 1924 would be found in at least one of these record sets, and almost all immigrants who came between the late nineteenth century and mid-twentieth century. They're full of genealogical goodies. Check out these amazing examples!

The full message is much longer and can be found at: https://mailchi.mp/reclaimtherecords/run-and-tell-that-uscis-genealogy-program-public-comments?e=0b398e0a30.

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Capture new information about your family on FamilySearch this week in 4M new digital images from Australia, Victoria Wills, Probate and Administration Files 1841–1926, expanded collections from England Middlesex Parish Registers 1539–1988, and the 2008 Census for Liberia. 

Browse nearly a million added Catholic Church records from the Philippines (Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan 1615–1982 and Caceres 1615–1982), plus more from Colombia 1576-2018 , El Salvador 1655-1977, Nicaragua 1740-1960, and Mexico (Distrito Federal 1514–1970, Hidalgo 1546–1971, Jalisco 1590–1979,  Puebla 1545–1977, Querétaro 1590–1970, Sinaloa1671–1968, Tlaxcala, 1576–1994, et al.)

Look for promising leads in US New York Land Records 1630–1975, Massachusetts Boston Tax Records 1822–1918 and expanded collections for Illinois and Indiana. 

Search these new records and images by clicking on the collection links at https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-17-may-2021/, or go to FamilySearch to search over 8 billion free names and record images.

This week's list is huge, much too large to publish here. You can find the entire list at https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-17-may-2021/.

I have known Jan Allen for a number of years and must say this award is well-deserved! The following was written by the Massachusetts Genealogical Council:

"Massachusetts Genealogical Council Awards the Third Annual Shirley M. Barnes Records Access Award to Jan Meisels Allen, Chair of the Public Records Access Monitoring Committee of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies and Sponsoring Member of the U.S. Records Preservation and Access Coalition."

(VIRTUAL: 1:00 PM, May 16, 2021) At the Society Fair of the New England Regional Genealogical Conference, the Massachusetts Genealogical Council (MGC) awarded its third annual Shirley M. Barnes Records Access Award to Jan Meisels Allen, the chair of the Public Records Access Monitoring Committee of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. The award is an engraved book clock, a replica of the award presented to Shirley Barnes July 14, 2007, upon her retirement as Civil Records Director of MGC.

WHO IS JAN MEISELS ALLEN? Since 2003 Jan has been the chairperson of the Public Records Access Monitoring Committee (PRAMC) of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS). She served on the IAJGS Board of Directors from 2004-2013. Since 2004 she represents IAJGS as a sponsoring member on the Records Preservation and Access Coalition (RPAC). In 2015 she was awarded the IAJGS Volunteer of the Year award. In 2013, the National Genealogical Society (NGS) awarded Jan the President’s Citation. In addition to her international and national work, she has served the boards of local Jewish genealogical societies in California. She continues to research her own Polish, Hungarian, and Galician roots. Jan’s work for records access is seen in her frequent Records Access Alerts on behalf of PRAMC. In recent years, Jan’s support of MGC in her letters citing law and precedent have been instrumental in our successes.

WHO WAS SHIRLEY M. BARNES? A little slip of a woman, frequently donning an inviting smile, and a big "Save Massachusetts Records" button, Shirley M. Barnes was committed to advocating for record preservation and access. Weekly she rode the commuter rail from Concord to Boston to walk the statehouse, visiting with legislators. Her work brought about the 1983 Massachusetts vital records law which mandated the transfer of vital records to the state archives in five-year intervals. After 25 years of dedicated service as MGC's Civil Records Director, Shirley tirelessly stayed on the board, mentoring her successors, until recently, attending meetings became a physical challenge.

THE SHIRLEY M. BARNES RECORDS ACCESS AWARD: The Massachusetts Genealogical Council, at the annual meeting on February 17, 2019, established an annual award to be given in memory of Shirley M. (Armstrong) Barnes at a luncheon, held in odd years at the New England Regional Genealogical Conference and in even years at the MGC Annual Seminar. The award will recognize people who emulate Shirley's volunteer spirit and whose dedication to records access has made a significant impact for genealogists. See www.massgencouncil.org/shirley-barnes-records-access-award for more information.

MASSACHUSETTS GENEALOGICAL COUNCIL: The Massachusetts Genealogical Council is an umbrella organization of Massachusetts genealogical and historical societies and libraries. We provide educational seminars and conferences to the members of those organizations. We also monitor legislative and administrative activity that might impact genealogists and historians.

The following article was written by Nancy Battick and originally published in The Piscataquis Observer newspaper and web site. The article is republished here with the kind permission of the author.

By Nancy Battick

My husband and I are in the process of renovating parts of our 196-year-old farmhouse. You don’t realize how much you can accumulate until you tackle something like this.  

Over the years our house has been the repository for various relatives including parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and who knows how many others. Out of loyalty I’ve kept many things I didn’t really like, want or need. After all, they’re family pieces and letting them go is hard. I feel guilty, though the more I shift things out of the house the less guilty I feel. I know family members expected me to keep and treasure their unwanted items forever, but I can’t anymore.

And then there are my genealogy records. I started genealogy before personal computers and genealogical software existed, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Everyone kept paper records. With the advent of personal computers and genealogical software I dutifully entered the genealogical information and filed the original material as a backup. Then I had so many files I divided them by family surnames. 

As I acquired more I organized them into binders by individual family members, mainly because the software was limited and you couldn’t scan in a great deal of material. Now it would take the rest of my life to scan everything into my software. Not happening. So I’m faced with a lot of binders, way over a hundred. Each relative has a family group sheet, original records, photos if they exist and so on.  

Then there are the family physical items, large and small, such as the berry set given to my grandparents when they married in 1905. The set was from my grandmother’s aunt and is the only item of hers anyone in the family has. Pretty but never used, it takes up space in one china cabinet — but if I ever have to seriously downsize what happens to that? What do I give up to keep it? Or the large crayon portraits of my great-grandparents and grand-aunts and uncles? My husband has his mother’s afghan crocheted by her uncle, a Catholic priest. My stepsons won’t want it. What to do with it?

As genealogists you will probably have to face the same sort of decisions I’m trying to resolve now before I get older and may have to move into smaller space. I certainly don’t want someone else making these decisions for me.     

Letting go is hard. I’ve sent things out of the house recently and I know Mom, a Depression baby who kept everything, would be appalled, but what else to do? 

If you’re also facing this kind of task, my advice is don’t throw everything away. Keep what you use, need, or value highly. In my case it’s still too much and I’ll have to wrestle with my conscience but eventually just let things go.  

We all have to do it no matter how painful it can be. But as for my genealogy, it remains where it is.  

Nancy Battick is a Dover-Foxcroft native who has researched genealogy for over 30 years. She is past president of the Maine Genealogical Society, author of several genealogical articles and co-transcribed the Vital Records of Dover-Foxcroft. Nancy holds an MA in History from UMaine and lives in Dover-Foxcroft with her husband, Jack, another avid genealogist. You can contact Nancy at nbattick@roadrunner.com.