Saturday Night Fun - Date Calculations

For this Saturday Night Fun, Randy has challenged other genea-bloggers to post on the use of their genealogy software's date calculator to find a birth date, and I thought I would participate in this challenge.

I have two genealogy programs on my computer: Family Trees Quick and Easy, version 5 that I use to keep track of my ancestry and Family Tree Maker 2005 trial version, so that I can open any gedcoms e-mailed to me. (I cannot successfully open gedcoms with the other program for some reason.) So, for this challenge I will use the date calculator in the Family Tree Maker version.

For this challenge, I have decided to calculate the birth date of my ancestor, Irene Havens. My only record of death happens to be her tombstone which states that she died on March 16, 1876 and was 35 years, 5 months and 25 days old at the time of her death. (I have not been able to find a record of her death, but it is quite possible that it never got recorded. I have a couple of other female ancestors whose deaths do not show up in the Saint Joseph county, Michigan death records either.)

To calculate the date of her birth, I opened Family Tree Maker software and selected the date calculator under the tools menu. I then entered the date of death and age of death as recorded on the tombstone, and the calculator came back with the date of 20 September 1840, although it mentioned that the calculation result was ambiguous. I'm guessing that the calculator does not know if the year was a leap year or not, so I'll have to do a little bit more research to find whether or not that is the case for 1876. So, I might have the right day of birth, but I won't know for sure until I uncover a baptismal record. Hopefully, I will find one for her.

18th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy

Welcome to the eighteenth edition of the Carnival of Central and European Genealogy! The topic for this edition was on Easter and Passover traditions. Although this is a small edition, here are a few Easter and Passover traditions:

First off, we have an article from Greta Koehl of Greta's Genealogy Blog, who is also a submitting an article to this carnival for the very first time. In Easter Traditions in the Eastern Churches: The Easter Basket, she writes about what types of food go into the basket, and she includes a recipe a dish that is included in the baskets.

Next, we have two articles from Schelly Talalay Dardashti of Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog. In Passover Memories: NYC, Teheran, LA and Part 2, she writes about her experiences celebrating Passover in New York City, Iran and Los Angeles.

Last but not least, we have an article from Donna Pointkouski of What's Past is Prologue. In Happy Dyngus Day!, she writes about the Polish tradition practiced on the Monday after Easter.

Well, that is it for this edition. I hope you have enjoyed this edition as much as I enjoyed reading the articles. The topic for the next edition will be on food! Does your family have any traditional dishes that came from Central or Eastern Europe? Do you have a favorite dish from Central or Eastern Europe? You do not have to have Central or Eastern European ancestors to participate in this carnival. The deadline for the submission of articles will be May 20th and the edition will be published on the 22nd. You can submit your articles here. Enjoy!

Family History Center Update

I just received an e-mail from the local Family History Center and learned that two of the microfilms I ordered have arrived. I know that one of the microfilms is of the church and bible records of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, but I am unsure of what the other microfilm is because I only ordered one microfilm from Pennsylvania this time around. I did order two microfilms of church records from England, so it is possible that one of the microfilms is from England. Either way, I'll find out which microfilm that one is the next time I go to the center.

Reasons Why I Haven't Posted Too Much Lately ...

As you have probably noticed, I haven't posted very much over the past few weeks. Part of the reason for the lack of posts is that I haven't felt like posting very much, and secondly, I've been doing research into one of my German branches. Most of the research has been with secondary sources, but I believe I have made some more connections on my Cotta ancestors. Of course, I'll have to back up the research with primary sources, but so far, the secondary sources (consisting primarily of biographies and history books) have been consistent. Either way, I'm thrilled to uncover new information.

So, I've been a bit busy, but I do plan to post other articles soon. I am still back-logged, but I hope to finish those posts soon. It just might take a while. Stay tuned ...

Question: Does Anyone Still Want to Submit Articles?

I forgot that yesterday was the submission deadline for the 18th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, and since I forgot, I'm willing to push back the deadline for the submissions and the publishing of the edition. Is there anyone who still wants to submit an article? Please let me know.

Also, I am still looking for people interested in hosting future editions of the carnival. Here are the months still available:

• May
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

If anyone is interested in hosting, please contact me at jess_history at yahoo dot com. Thanks!