A Five Questions Challenge - School Memories

Juliana Smith over at Ancestry's blog, has posed a five question challange about school memories. I know Randy Seaver and Becky Wiseman have already posted their own answers to this challenge, but I decided to join this challenge, even though my public education school days are not that distant. At least, I don't think this question applies to college ...

1. What was your favorite subject in school?

My favorite subjects were German, history (not suprising, as that's my major), creative writing, anatomy and physiology, world religions and geography.

2. What extra-cirricular activities did you participate in?

In middle school, I participated in the school newspaper and student government. In high school, I participated in several clubs:

Freshman year: I did not participate in any clubs.

Sophomore year: I was in the Mock Trial Club, and I was in a literary club that put on a couple of skits for an open house.

Junior year (different high school): I was on the varsity quiz bowl team and I was on the make-up crew for my high school's theatre company/club.

Senior year: I was the captain of the quiz bowl team and I was again a member on the make-up crew for the school's theatre company. I was also a member of NHS.

3. Did I go on field trips, and if so, what was my most memorable trip?

I went on many field trips when I was in school. I went to places such as the Detroit Institute of Arts (or DIA as it is also known), the Detroit Science Center, Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum, the Jiffy plant in Chelsea, a YMCA camp in the sixth grade, and many more places that I have memories of but don't remember the names of the places. Again, I went on many field trips, several of them to the same places, that I don't believe there is one that sticks out in my mind.

4. What teacher influenced me the most?

I'm not sure I can pinpoint any specific teacher as having an influence over me, but I have had many memorable teachers. A few of my most memorable teachers are: my high school history and English teachers, my German teacher, my eighth-grade teacher and my world religions teacher. Many of those teachers, though, are now retired. I have also had teachers that I don't want to remember, but I don't want to write about them.

5. Did I buy lunch at school or did I bring my lunch from home?

I mainly brought lunch from home. The few times that I did buy lunch primarily occurred when I was in elementary and middle school. Most of the time, the food tasted terrible and wasn't very healthy, and I preferred to bring my lunch from home because the food tasted so bad.

As you can see, I still have many memories of my school days, some bad and some good. Of course, what I have posted here is only a slight fraction of what I do remember.

Genealogy and History Thoughts - Column Two

I've just started an internship at an archive and as a result, I finally have a better understanding and appreciation for why other genealogists write about being specific when it comes to sending a query to an archive or library. (No, this has nothing to do with reading a request written by a researcher; the amount and different types of records an archive may keep is what has made those lessons sink in.)

Since many archive keep thousands upon thousands of pages of documents, just mailing a request with a name would be difficult to research if a person does not give a date range. Unless the person who are researching was famous in the city or area, chances are, that any general request for information would be too time consuming. And more than likely, an archivist would not respond with information but a suggestion to come do your own research at the archive precisely for the reason that the archive staff does not have the time to do the research. (It is also possible that the only staff member is the archivist and the rest of the people who work there are volunteers.)

Archivists generally spend their time preserving, organizing and filling documents and other historical artifacts, and thus, they don't usually have the time to extensive research. In addition, the archive probably only has a couple of people working on the staff. If anything, they will be spending their time trying to organize artifacts so that they'll be easier to retrieve when someone comes in to do research. That information will also more than likely not be online because it is just for internal use and because the archive either doesn't have the staff, funding or technological know-how to put information online. And this lack of time, staff and money is precisely why I don't believe all records will be digitized and put online. More than likely, the information that has been put online has been the result of volunteers doing the work, and this work has probably taken those volunteers many years.

I don't mean to lecture, and this wasn't intended to be a lecture. I think, though, that many times, we as genealogists forget or don't know about the amount of work and effort that goes into preserving records so that they are available to be viewed in the future. I know I didn't realize the amount of work that went into archiving until I began my internship.

If you agree or disagree, please feel free to leave a comment.

Poll Results

The poll has officially closed, and now I'll bring you the results. The poll's question was "Where are your ancestors from?" A person could chose from any of the five categories offered and could vote more than once. Ten people voted, and the results are:

• Europe - 10 votes
• Asia - 0 votes
• Africa - 0 votes
• North or South America - 2 votes
• Australia - 0 votes

To those who voted, thank you for voting.

Added More Genealogy Blogs

I've just added a few genealogy blogs today. The blogs added are:

• Robert Stanley Orrell and Reverdy Lewin Orrell, III's Bob & Reb's Genealogy Blog
• George Geder's Genealogy~Photography~Restoration
• Ancestry. com Blog

You can find these and other blogs on the lower left hand of the page. Any suggestions for other genealogy or history blogs are welcome.

Finally ...

I finally got my response to Mike Elgan's article posted today. I had been working on bit by bit since Saturday, and I was only able to get it finished today. If I had not been busy, I would have had it finished sooner and I would have posted more.

Either way, I hope you enjoy this first column of Genealogy and History Thoughts.

Genealogy and History Thoughts - Column One

This column was not exactly the one I originally planned on posting, but I could not pass up commenting on Mike Elgan's "Coming Soon: The Mother of All Genealogy Databases." I realize that Jasia, Randy Seaver and others have already posted their thoughts on this article, but I feel as though I need to add my two cents worth as well.

After reading this article, I believe Mr. Elgan's concept of genealogy is incorrect. I realize that Mr. Elgan is writing from the view of someone in the computer field, and that his interest in genealogy is only related to the networking that has been occurring in genealogy lately. The social networking with other genealogists over the internet is only a small part of genealogy. Most of a genealogist's research is done off the internet, in libraries or other repositories. Most of the records that genealogists use are not on the internet, and even with information found on the internet, that information has to be verified with information not on the internet. I know that not everyone believes spending time digging for old documents interesting.

Of course, I can't resist commenting on some of Mr. Elgan's remarks.

"Millions of people around the world spend hours tracing their 'roots' as far back as they can. I've always suspected that people are really searching for self-identity."

It is possible that some people who do genealogy are searching for an identity, but that is not the reason why I got interested in family history. I got into genealogy primarily because I was interested in the history of my family. Most of my relatives do not know much about the history of our family, and it was my Grandfather who originally began to do research on our family. I took over because I was curious.

"Unfortunately, many uncover unpleasant family secrets. Instead of finding aristocrats and royalty, people are likely to discover war deserters, criminals and illegitimate children. Even more common is to find family origins in countries not part of the family lore. Genealogy isn't for wimps."

This was precisely the reason why I got into genealogy. I wanted to find out the truth about the history of my family.

"Many Americans who consider themselves white or black are in fact both to one degree or another."

This doesn't shock me at all. Racial mixing between Europeans, Native Americans and Africans has occurred before. Quite a bit of racial mixing occurred as a result of slavery. I have to wonder, though, just how well known is this to most Americans. It does make me wonder how well history is being taught in schools.

"The biggest genealogy hobbyist site, Ancestry.com, claims to have 5 billion records collected globally, including census, immigration and military records; newspaper and magazine clippings; court, land and probate files and other records going back to the 16th century. The site enables its users to do the work of piecing together who's related to whom. It's an impressive database. You can simply enter names - your mother's maiden name, for example - and get back dozens or hundreds of possibilities, which you can then narrow down and use the result as the foundation for a new tracing."

Sometimes, I wish it was that easy. I must stress, though, that Ancestry is just a tool. I can't just use the internet to create my family tree. I have to find records offline, and most of the records are not online. I still have to do fact checking, and I can't assume that a John Smith in a database is my John Smith. It's more complicated than that.

In the next ten years, there will probably be more records online, but I do not believe tracing my family history will be as simple as typing in my name. I do not believe I would come up with an accurate tree. There any many trees with incorrect data online. I will still have to go to the places that my ancestors lived, as that is where the records will be. There will still be more records offline than online, especially when one thinks about all of the privacy concerns today. Also, I believe most of the world's records will still be offline because those repositories will not always have the funding to digitize records and put them online. It would be nice if all of the world's records were online, but the reality is that it takes many hours to transcribe and digitize records before those records can be put online. One cannot expect the records to be put online in weeks; the process of making a searchable database with records takes years to complete.

Well, that is my two cents on this issue. Does anyone agree or disagree with me? As always, you can leave your thoughts as a comment.

Things to Keep in Mind ... An Interesting Blog Article

This article was posted on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog yesterday, and I thought I would add a link to the article. The article is short, but the argument that a name of an ancestor might be more common than thought is something that is worth remembering. You can read the article here.

Added A Few More Genealogy Blogs ... Again

I've added a couple more genealogy blogs to the list. The blogs added are:

• Searching for our Ancestors' Journal
• Miriam's Eastern Washington Genealogical Society Blog

You can find these blogs and other blogs on the lower left hand of the page. Any suggestions for history or genealogy blogs are welcome.

More Genealogy Blogs Added

I've added more genealogy blogs today. The blogs added are:

• Amy Crooks' Untangled Family Roots
• Coffee/Coffey Call
• Midge Frazel's Granite in My Blood

You can find these and other blogs on the lower left hand of this blog. Any other suggestions for history and genealogy blogs are welcome.

Genealogy and History Thoughts - Coming Soon!

I have decided to start a column-like post on thoughts about genealogy and history. Hopefully, I'll be able to post this column once a week (or as close to weekly as I can). I hope everyone will enjoy this column. Either way, this column will be coming soon!

Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The Carnival of Genealogy was posted earlier today. You can read it here, at Susan Kitchen's blog.

I did not submit an article this time, primarily for several reasons. I've been busy with school work and thus, I have not had much time to write long posts. In addition, I primarily only have the basic details for most of my ancestor's war stories; there are still many holes in the details and facts in those stories. I still have more research to do. Plus, I'm a little hesitant to post stories in light of the recent Ancestry.com controversy. I'm still erring on the side of the caution.

Anyhow, the next Carnival of Genealogy topic is on weddings. Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute an article.

Speaking of weddings, a book you might want to read is All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding by Carol McD. Wallace (New York: Penguin Books, 2004). I have not yet finished the book, but this book deals with history of weddings. In short, it is book on an aspect of U. S. social history.

Added A Book List

Earlier today, I added a list of history books that I am currently reading. Needless to say, I will be updating this list in the future. I also plan to add a list of history books that I have recently read. Hopefully, I'll have that set up in a couple of days.

You can find this book list at the bottom of the page, just under the copyright notice.

Another Source Where Information Can Be Found

If you're searching for more records for your family history and happen to have black sheep in the family, one record you might want to consider looking for is the fingerprint card of your relative.

Why consider this record?

Some possible genealogical information that you might glean from a card:

• Your relative's full name
• The Alias that your relative might have used
• Your relative's birthplace
• Your relative's nationality at that time period
• Possible physical description or a photo
• Your relative's signature
• Reason for your relative's arrest and whether or not they had a previous record of arrest
• Your relative's sentence
• And, of course, your relative's fingerprints

Of course, one must keep in mind that the fingerprint cards that might be available would be those of people who were born over a century ago. Of course, if you have a relative who disappeared in the early twentieth century, you might want to consider the possibility that he or she may have been in prison.

So, where can one find this record type?

If you know where a relative resided, I would contact the archives of the city or place where that person may have lived. You may possibly find the records stored there. Of course, there is a possibility that the old cards no longer exist, but it is still worth it to search and see if these cards still exist.

More Genealogy Blogs Added

Today, I have added several more genealogy blogs. The blogs that were added are:

• Neil Smith's Genealogy Blog
• Oxford County Genealogy Notebook
• Pasco Genealogical Society Blog

Any suggestions for other genealogy blogs or history blogs is welcome.

Added A New Poll

Today, I have added a new poll to this blog. This time, the question has to deal with where one's ancestors have originated. You can vote more than once.

The Fifth Part of the Legal Analysis is posted

Today, Craig Manson has posted the fifth part of his legal analysis column. You can read it here.

Part Four of the Legal Analysis is Posted

Yesterday, Craig Manson posted part four of his legal analysis. You can read the article here.

Part Three of the Legal Analysis Posted

Yesterday, Craig Manson posted the third part to his legal analysis of the IBC controversy. You can read the article here.

A Day to Remember ...

This is one of the pictures that I took earlier today. Flags were planted in the park of my college's campus and near the clock tower. I realize the quality of this picture is poor, but this is a memorial stone to the victims of September 11. I don't know when this memorial was erected, but it is located in the park on campus. I have posted more of the pictures I took on my daily blog.

Second Part of Legal Series Posted

On Sunday, Craig Manson posted the second part of his legal column. You can read it here.

Poll Results

The poll has officially closed and the results are in. The question was: How far back have you researched your family history?. Twenty-one people responded, and here are the results:

• Earlier than 1700 - 13 votes
• Early 1700s - 2 votes
• Mid 1700s - 1 vote
• Early 1800s - 3 votes
• Mid 1800s - 1
• Early 1900s - 1

I'm quite impressed by the results; many of the respondents reported that they had traced their family history to before 1700. As for me, I've only traced my family history back to the early and mid 1800s, depending upon which branch in my family.

Either way, thank you to all those who participated in this poll.

First Post over the Legality of Ancestry's Actions is Posted

Yesterday, Craig Manson, of GeneaBlogie, posted the first article in his column over the legality of Ancestry.com's actions on the Internet Biographical Collection. You can read the first article here.

More Genealogy Blogs Added

I've added a few more genealogy blogs today. Those blogs are:

• Patricia Craig Johnson's Genealogy Blog
• Anna-Karin's Genealogical Podcast
• Links to the Past
• P. T. Sherman's Genealogy Connections

You can find these and other blogs on the lower left side of this page. Any suggestions for other genealogy or history blogs is welcome.

Added Another Genealogy Blog

Earlier today, I added another genealogy blog. The blog I added is:

• John Newmark's Transylvanian Dutch

You can find this blog and other blogs on the lower left side of the page. Any suggestions for other genealogy blogs or history blogs is welcome.

Added a Copyright Notice

Over this past few days and in light of the Ancestry controversy, I have added a copyright notice to the top left hand of the page and the bottom of this blog's page.

You can create links to my blog, but if want to copy an article I wrote, please:

• Leave a comment under the article with your e-mail address, so that I can contact you by e-mail.
• You are allowed to copy an article if you first get my permission and credit the copied portions to me.

Thanks, Jessica.

More Genealogy Blogs Added

Earlier today, I added three more genealogy blogs to the list. The blogs added are:

• Lee Drew's FamHist (I learned about his blog from Randy Seaver's article.)
• Leland Meitzler's Everton Publishers Genealogy Blog
• Nikki's Genealogy Journal

You can find the links to these and other blogs on the lower left hand of the page. Any other suggestions for genealogy or history blogs are welcome.

Another Chapter...

Yesterday afternoon, an letter by Kendall Hulet (a manager at Ancestry.com) responding to the uproar over Ancestry's Internet Biographical Collection, was posted on Ancestry's blog. You can read the letter here.

I don't think I need to post anything further on this issue as other genealogy bloggers have commented on this letter. Among those are:

• Jasia's "Now That's What I Wanted to Hear!"
• Becky Wiseman's "Some Final (?) Thoughts on the Ancestry Fiasco"

I do not doubt that there are other genealogy bloggers who have commented on this letter; I just haven't had the time to read all of the blogs. I am sorry if I have not mentioned anyone.

Well, Believe This Or Not

I just checked Ancestry.com's blog and found out that Ancestry has decided to take off the internet its Internet Biography Database. You can read the rest of the article here.

What I find interesting is that Ancestry has labeled the uproar over its behavior as "concerns about the collection." If a person has not already read about the issue on other genealogy blogs, that person might get the impression that it was not an uproar, when in fact it really was. In short, if a person just happened to only see Ancestry's latest blog article, they would not be aware that many genealogists/family historians were angry and outraged over what Ancestry did.

This blog article also states, "We have decided to remove this collection and search engine from Ancestry.com for the time being." Interesting. Does Ancestry intend to only remove this database temporarily and repost it when the uproar has died down? I guess that means that the genealogy community needs to stay on the alert when it comes to new databases that Ancestry posts.

If you want to read my post on the database issue, click here.

My Two Cents on Ancestry's Internet Biography Database

Throughout this evening, I have read several blog articles about Ancestry's Internet Biography database, and I couldn't help but add my two cents to this issue.

Originally, Ancestry required a paying membership in order to view this database, but the database was turned into a free database earlier today because of the uproar over Ancestry's actions.

Personally, what Ancestry did was ethically and morally wrong. I don't know if Ancestry could be held legally liable for its behavior because I am not a lawyer. I don't have that answer, but what I do know is that it is unethical to take information off the internet and put into a database without the author or owner's consent. According to other bloggers, their information was obtained without their consent, and they did not give Ancestry their consent. (To me, it appears to be plagiarism, but I don't believe that Ancestry's behavior technically would fall under that category.) And Ancestry did not pay those people any money for the use of their information. Even though it is now a free database, technically, one could argue that they did make some money off of it when a person was still required to pay to access this database. But, again, I don't know if Ancestry could face legal repercussions for this or not because I'm not a lawyer. What I do know, though, is that Ancestry's behavior is blatantly dishonest from a moral standpoint. People try to teach their children to be honest, but when children see companies behave dishonestly, I don't believe they walk away with the idea that honesty is right, especially when they see dishonest companies profit.

Of course, other bloggers have written much more eloquently than I on this subject, and some of those articles are:

• Randy Seaver's "Ancestry.com is caching some web site data"
• Jasia's "Greedy Ancestry.com Stabs Friends in the Back"
• Becky Wiseman's "Is this Fair Use?"
• Miriam's "Ancestry.com: Copyright Violations?"
• Janice Brown's "Ancestry.com Hijacks Cow Hampshire"
• Susan's "Ancestry.com Scrapes Websites; Places Harvested Content Behind Membership Wall"

This list is not comprehensive; I've only linked to a few of the blog articles, and I have no doubt that there are more.

I will have to say, though, that I will be much more careful in the future with whatever I post, and from now on, I will not name any of my ancestors, if I even decide to write about my research at all.

A Little Movie I Created...

I just created this little movie earlier today. It is a movie about the different stages of life, and it showcases different times in one man's life. It's just supposed to be a fun, little movie.




Update at 8:40 p.m.: In case anyone is curious as to where I obtained the graphics, my post on my daily blog explains where they came from.

Added a Poll

I just added a poll to see how far back other people have researched their family history. It is just for fun, and I will write about the results after the poll closes in the next two weeks.

Classes Begin

Today, classes begin at my university, and that has led me to think about our ancestors and what school was like for them. That is, if they went to school at all. In our world, today, children are required by law to go to school up to a certain age, but laws requiring attendance did not always exist. Or if our ancestors went to school, they may have only gone to school for a few years, especially if they lived on a farm. I don't know how many years my great-grandfather went to school, but according to my grandfather, his education amounted to the equivalent of a fourth grade reading level. As for my great-great-grandfather, I don't even know how long he went to school or if he did go to school.

Of course, if our ancestors went to school there should be some evidence that they did. These are a few record types where one might find evidence for an ancestor's education:

• Yearbooks (I realize this one is an obvious one, but these books might not necessarily be high school yearbooks. My middle school also had yearbooks.)
• Biographies (Biographies of prominent members of an area may indicate whether an ancestor went to school or not.)
• Family Stories or Traditions (I know you still must verify your information, but you might be able to obtain accurate information on how much of an education that your grandparents or your great-grandparents obtained, from those who remember past generations.)
• Legal documents (These might not be necessarily be documents that state how much of an education a person obtained, but documents such as wills, deeds or pension files can indicate whether or not a person went to school through that person's signature or lack of one.)
• School pictures (Again, I realize this is an obvious source, but finding an ancestor in an old school picture will indicate that that ancestor did attend school at one point. My grandma still has a photo of her class in elementary school.)
• Census Records (Some censuses will indicate if an ancestor is in school and possibly hint at when an ancestor was in school and not.)
• Old licenses (Primarily of professions, such as medicine or law, might indicate whether a person had a formal education or not.)

There are probably many more sources that one can find that would indicate whether or not a person obtained an education, but most of the sources I have listed above are sources that are part of the public record. Some school districts probably had their own censuses or cards with a student's information; however, a person may not be able to obtain those records for legal reasons. (I do have one old school district card, that I found in some family papers, that lists information on a student's family and which school that student attended.) Even though I just listed some records, there are other genealogists who have written articles on where one could find records. Other articles on school records include:

• Ancestry's Tips from the Pros: School Records
• Ancestry's 27 August 2006 Tips from the pros: School Records

These are just two articles that I quickly found. I don't doubt that there are others. If anyone else knows about other school records, please feel free to leave a comment. I can always add an update listing other people's suggestions. Thanks.

An Interesting Picture ...

I took a walk around my campus earlier today, and took some pictures. This is one of the pictures, and it is of a historical marker that I found on my campus. I realize the quality of this picture is poor, but I did read the marker. According to this marker, this area of my college's campus used to be a settlement. This settlement was involved in Michigan's lumbering industry over a hundred and fifty years ago. (For those who don't know, lumbering was a major industry in Michigan, especially northern Michigan, in the nineteenth century). I don't think most people would care or expect to find a historical marker on their campus. I guess this just goes to show you that you can find history where ever you go or look for it. Even if your college is fairly young compared to other college campuses.

To see other pictures I took and posted to another one of my blogs, click here.

Added Another History Blog

Today I found another history blog and added it to my history blog list. The history blog added is:

• Maggie's History of American Women

You can find this blog on the lower left hand of this page. Any other suggestions for history blogs are welcome.

Three Interesting Olive Tree Genealogy Blog Posts

I just recently noticed these three posts that I thought might of some interest to other genealogists:

• "Philadelphia Pennsylvania Baggage Lists"
• "Fort Ville-Marie, French Settlement in Montreal in 1642 found!"
• "Palatine History"

All three of the articles appear to be very interesting from a genealogical and historical view.

Birthdays ... and Genealogy

Today is my birthday, and earlier today I started to wonder about birthday celebrations in the past. I mean, how did our ancestors' celebrate their birthdays? Did they celebrate with parties and gift-giving? When did gift-giving start to become a tradition?

I don't have the answer to any of these questions. I just started to wonder about it. Hm .... I smell a research project! It looks as though I need to do research on these questions.

Anyhow, besides wondering how birthdays are celebrated, I started thinking about when people come of age. Not all too long ago, the age when a person legally came of age was twenty-one in this country and in other countries. I don't know if the legal age for adulthood is twenty-one is in other countries, but I do know that culturally, in the United Kingdom, twenty-one was once the age associated with coming of age. When my Mom turned twenty-one, her relatives sent her money because that was they age that they associated with coming of age. I don't know if that is still the case, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Of course, I wonder why twenty-one was chosen as the age when a person became an adult. I guess I'll just have to research it.

That's just my thoughts. Does anyone else have thoughts about birthdays and genealogy?

Two More History Blogs Added

Over the past few days, I have added two more history blogs. Those blogs are:

• Mass Moments (I first learned about this blog from Randy Seaver's post.)
• Roy Booth's Early Modern Whale

You can find the links to these two blogs on the lower left hand of the page. Any suggestions for other blogs are welcome.

Update at 9:oo p.m.: I should have said that I'm interested in genealogy or history blogs. I deleted the first two comments to this post because the blog suggestion was not to a history or genealogy blog. I'm sorry for any confusion that this might have generated.

Family Myths and Traditions - Confirmed, Disproved or Unconfirmed

Very few family myths or legends have been passed down in my family, so I haven't had many stories to investigate or confirm. I have, though, been able to confirm a few stories or at least confirm some of the facts in the few stories that my family has.

On my father's side, there was a story that one of our ancestors had served in the Civil War. I was able to confirm that this story was true and in addition to my ancestor, his brother-in-laws , his wife's uncle and possible at least two possible brothers also served. (I haven't been able to completely verify yet that these two other men living in the same county are my ancestor's brothers. I'm still doing research on whether are his brothers.)

Another story from my father's side claims that someone in the family became a cattle-rustler, but I haven't proven that story yet.

On my mother's side, one family story claims that my great-grandfather was the youngest of thirteen children and that he went to live with a married siblings after his parents died. This older sibling mistreated him to the point that he ran away at thirteen and joined the crew of a ship. I've been able to confirm that he ended up living in the household of his older, married brother, but I haven't been able to confirm the part about working on a ship. I don't know how true that portion is. Also, I've only been able to find about ten other siblings, so it may be possible that he was the youngest to thirteen.

These are just a couple of the few stories that were passed down. For most of the few family traditions that my family has, I have not yet confirmed or disproved them. I'm still searching.

Haven't Posted In a While

I've been busy lately and haven't had time to post anything, so I apologize to those who were wondering why I haven't posted lately. Now that I am back at school, the focus of my posting will be on history, but I might still write posts for the Carnival of Genealogy.

Added Two More Genealogy blogs

I just recently added two genealogy blogs. Those blogs are:

• Radixlog's Hungarian Genealogy News blog
• Family Connections

If anyone has any other suggestions for genealogy or history blogs, please feel free to leave a comment with a suggestion. Thanks.

Update at 7:20 am: I forgot to mention that you can find the link to these and other blogs on the lower left side of this blog. I'm sorry for any of the confusion.

Next Edition of Carnival of Genealogy Posted

I just wanted to let everyone know that the latest edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted at footnote Maven's blog.

Library of Michigan Program

I just noticed on Ancestry's blog that the Library of Michigan has set up a class for kids on how to do genealogy. You can read Ancestry's article here. I would also read the article that Ancestry's blog provides a link to, and you can read that article here.

The title of the post, though, is a bit misleading because it states "Michigan State Library." When I first read the title, I thought the library at Michigan State University (MSU) was hosting the program. As a person from Michigan, whenever I see the phrase "Michigan State," I think of the university first. I guess I'm just too conditioned to think that way.

An Interesting Book

A few weeks ago, I went to one of the local libraries in the area that I live in, and found this book: Cripple Creek Days by Mabel Barbee Lee (Doubleday & Company, Inc.: Garden City, New York, 1958). (Okay, the library was giving away books it had decided to discard, and I got it for free.) I have not yet read this book, but it appears to be the author's memoir of Cripple Creek, Colorado's heyday.

So, if anyone is interested in the history of Cripple Creek, this probably would be a good book to read.

Another More Genealogy Blogs Posted Post

Today, I have just added several more genealogy posts. The posts added are:

• Dick Eastman's Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
• Bogus Corners
• Family History Quest
• World Vital Records blog
• Sandra Rothman's Forgotten Ancestors: A Journey to Western Ukraine
• Pat's a Journey into the Past
• Genealogy Dribs and Drabs

If anyone else has any ideas or suggestions for other genealogy or history blogs, you are more than welcome to leave a comment with your suggestions.

Looking for Muskegon County, Michigan Family Histories

To be honest, I'm not looking for the family histories, but the Muskegon County Genealogical Society is. I only found out about this today from reading Miriam, of AncesStories, and Dear Myrtle's posts.

From what I have read, the society is planning to publish a book on family histories from Muskegon County.

Unfortunately, I don't have any roots in Muskegon County. Now, if a book for Saint Joseph County were to come out, I might be interested in sending a family history . . .

Tombstone Maker Website

I just learned about this website from reading Randy Seaver's post. On this website, you can create your own tombstone epitaph.

I thought it was an interesting site, so I decided to create a tombstone marker. Here is mine:









Update: July 30, 2007:





I also created a tombstone for one of my ancestors. I know where he is buried (now, after a wild goose chase), but he doesn't have a grave marker. So, I made him one. Here it is:





Okay, I know the epitaph is not the most original, but this was the best I could think of. Maybe someday I will tell the story of how I found his grave, but it won't be today.

Ancestry News - More Databases

In case you haven't noticed, Ancestry has added several databases for Australian genealogy. The link to the information can be found here: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1672.

Also, Ancestry has updated the British World War One Pension records. You can read about it here: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1673.

Ethical Issues in Genealogy that I have come across

I really haven't come across too many ethical issues in my genealogical research, but there two that I believe are important. I won't talk about copyright laws as Steve Danko and Footnote Maven have already posted on this issue. Personally, when it comes to copyright issues, I think it is just better not to post what ever it is on the internet. But I digress; there are additional issues that bother me.

Online family trees, like Ancestry's World Connect, without sources bother me. I personally don't believe that citing a gedcom is sufficient enough as a source of where one personally obtained the information on their tree. I realize that I could always e-mail the tree's owner; however, I have run into situations where a person will have listed one of my ancestor's on his or her tree, and upon e-mailing that person, I learn that the tree's owner does not have any further information or where he or she has obtained that information. Or, I am unable to contact a person because there isn't an e-mail address listed. I'm sorry, but if someone is going to spend the time and effort to post his or her family tree on the web, he or she might as well spend the time to add citations on where he or she has found the information. The time spent on researching one's genealogy is fairly equivalent to doing research for a history paper or a history book. I realize that not everyone is a history major, but in every field that requires research all of the final papers have to have citations and information on where one has obtained his or her information. Any information that is not part of the public domain has to have a citation. It has to be verifiable. The citing format that I use is the Chicago Manual. I use this format for my citations in my history papers and since I'm familiar with this format, it is more convenient to use.

Another issue, with is really a sub-category of the above, is the plagiarism of other people's research. Yes, it is plagiarism if you copy someone else's research and then post on your tree as your research without acknowledging that other person's information. I realize that you can't take information on the web as gospel truth. My problem is that some people have copied other people's work, and having stated that the information they have posted is not their own. Why? It is downright dishonest. I realize that the best way to prevent people from stealing one's research is to not post it on the internet at all. I don't have my family tree online, and if someone has given me information, I cite who's work it is.

Another reason why I do not have my family tree online is that I want to minimize the risk of identity theft. I do not want to make it easy for anyone to steal my or a relative's identity, for that matter. And as I stated briefly before, it is better to not post something to the web if there is a risk that a person could end up in legal trouble or end up with a family feud. Or have one's identity stolen. Sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry.

A Few More Blogs Added

I've been really busy for the past week, so I haven't been able to post anything. I probably will not be posting as frequently as I have in the past because I have some stuff I have to work on. Anyhow, I have added a few more genealogy and history blogs today.

The genealogy blogs I have added are:

• Apple's Tree
• Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi

The history blog that I have added is:

• Sandusky Library Archive's Sundusky History

Again, you can find these and other blogs on the left of the page. If anyone else has any other suggestions for other genealogy and history blogs, please feel free to let me know.

Thanks.

Two Interesting Blog Articles

I forgot to mention these two blog articles on Olive Tree's blog when they were posted several days ago. I think these two articles are interesting and very helpful:

• Ancestor Birth Record Finder
• Dating Ancestor Photographs

I thought that these articles might help someone. I don't know how many people know of these two articles that were posted on the 1st and 9th.

Another Genealogy Book

A few days ago I went to my local library, and it was still holding a book sale. At that book sale I found another genealogy book. I haven't read the book yet, but I think it would still be very useful. The book is Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives by the National Archives Trust Fund Board (National Archives And Records Service: Washington D.C., 1982). There maybe a more recent version, but I'm not completely sure. This book has several pictures in it. Given its date, other libraries probably have copies of this book.

Four More Genealogy Blogs Added to List

I realize I haven't posted anything in the past several days; however, I have just recently added a few more genealogy blogs. These blogs are:

• Larry Lehmer's Passing It On
• Tim Agazio's Genealogy Reviews Online
• SJ's My Genealogy
• Indiana Genealogical Society

If anyone has anymore suggestions for history or genealogy blogs, feel free to leave a comment with the address to the blog.

More Genealogy blogs posted

I've added several more genealogy blogs to my genealogy list on the left side. The ones that I just added are:

• footnoteMaven
• Cow Hampshire
• Dana Huff's Our Family History
• Lori's Smoky Mountain Family Historian blog
• Moultrie Creek
• OakvilleBlackWalnut

I know that this isn't a comprehensive list of all the genealogy blogs out there, but if some has a suggestion for genealogy or history, he or she is more than welcome to post a suggestion.

Two Other History Books

I realize that Independence Day was yesterday, but I thought I would just mention these two books, in keeping with the spirit of this season.

The first history book that I want to mention is A Nation on Trial: America and the War of 1812 by Patrick C. T. White (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. : New York, 1967). I just bought this book today at my local library, so I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Apparently the book is on the history of the War of 1812 and the U.S.'s diplomacy surrounding the war.

The next history book is also about the War of 1812; however this book deals with the naval battles of the war. (Yes, I know; another maritime history book.) The Age of Fighting Sail by C. S. Forester (Chapman Billies, Inc.: Sandwich, MA, 1956). As I said, the book deals with the naval battles of the War of 1812. (I had to read the book for a history class.)

Anyway, I thought these books were fitting for this time of the year because our national anthem was written during the War of 1812 just shortly after Francis Scott Key witnessed the British ships bombard Fort McHenry.

More Genealgoy blogs posted

I have posted several some more links to other genealogy blogs. The blogs I have added are:

• Begat Chat
• Craig Manson's GeneaBlogie
• Christina's Shaking the Tree
• All My Ancestors
• Two Sides of the Ocean

If anyone has any suggestions for other genealogy or history blogs, please leave a comment. All suggestions are welcome.

Thanks.

Happy Fourth of July!

I just want to wish everyone a safe happy Fourth of July.

America, the Fourth of July, and my family

So, what does America and Independence Day mean to my family and I? Well, aside from the obvious - I wouldn't be here if my ancestors didn't come here - I realize that I am very blessed to be a citizen of the United States. Even though I was born a U. S. citizen, most of my ancestors were not citizens of the U. S. when they were born.

Although I don't know the all of the reasons why my ancestors chose to come to America - even though I plan to find out one day - I do know that a couple of my ancestors came to America with the hope that they would have more and better economic opportunities. I would not be surprised, though, if an ancestor's economic situation played a major factor in his or her decision to move to America. At the same time, I cannot imagine what my ancestors might have felt at the thought of moving to a foreign country, especially my German ancestors who would have been moving to a country where a different language was spoken and where there was a different culture. Despite whatever they may have felt, they came. So, America, to my family, has always been a place of opportunity.

As for Independence Day, my family has always associated the day with fireworks, barbecues, and remembering the efforts of our veterans in serving our country (yes, even more so than Memorial Day or Veteran's Day). While growing up, I remember watching the Detroit fireworks on TV - and once in down in Detroit - and the fireworks from the Spree, that always took place around the Fourth, from the front porch of the house I used to live in. As I grew older, my family would go on vacation around the Fourth. Last year, my family and I went out west, and a few days before the Fourth, we went to the evening lighting program at Mount. Rushmore. During the ceremony, the MC had all the veterans in the audience to come up to the stage and after the whole stage was filled up with veterans, people yelled out, "Thank you!"

So, what is my point? Independence Day in my family has always been associated with honoring our veterans and remembering how lucky we are to be free and live in the U. S. Without the immigration of all of our ancestors to the U. S. and the efforts of our veterans, the United States would not exist as it does today.

Michigan Genealogy - links

Even though I haven't posted on the Library of Michigan, I thought would post some links. One link that you could use in your research, if you had ancestors that died in Michigan between 1867 and 1897, is GENDIS. GENDIS is a database of early Michigan deaths that spans the years between 1867 and 1897. Although there have not been any names added to the database in the past few years, there are still transcriptions of the early death returns sent to the state. The majority of deaths for the years 1867 to 1884 are complete while after 1884, there aren't as many death returns in the database. (At least, I think that was I read in the introduction to the database.)

Another helpful link would be the University of Michigan's Online Michigan County Histories Collection. This website has many Michigan county histories online, and you can view them for free! The best way to view a page would be to chose from the menu option, next to the page number, the pdf format.

Another helpful link is the genealogy section of the Library of Michigan's website. Here you can view Michigan's 1870 Census online images for free and can print them. You can also find information on the Library of Michigan's collection of genealogy material and primary sources.

More Genealogy blogs and some History blogs added

As the title of this posts states, I've added more blogs to the left side of the page and I've divided the blogs into genealogy and history categories.

The genealogy blogs added are:

• Jasia's Creative Genealogy blog
• John D. Reid's Anglo-Celtic Connections blog
• The Genetic Genealogist
• Unofficial Footnote blog

The history blogs category is a new a category that I added today. You can find the history blogs right below the genealogy blogs.

The history blogs added are:

• Maggie's Civil War Women
• Old Picture of the Day blog
• Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt's History On Trial

If anyone has any other suggestions for history or genealogy blogs, please leave me a comment with the address, and I'll post them. All suggestions are appreciated.

Ancestry creates Ancestry websites for France and Italy

I've just noticed that Ancestry added an article to their blog about Ancestry's addition of two websites for France and Italy. You can read the article here: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1572 . Of course, I'm wondering what type of records they added to those websites, and I'm also wondering if members will be able to access those records. I guess it will be interesting to see what develops.

Native American Records added to Ancestry

I just noticed this post on Ancestry's blog just a few minutes ago, and I thought I would post on it. Ancestry has added records pertaining to Native America genealogy. From what I read, the databases added appear to census records of reservations. You can read the rest of the article here: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1573.

I don't have any experience in researching Native American genealogy, but I hope that the addition of these records makes doing genealogy reasearch easier for those doing research in Native American genealogy.


Update: 27 June 2007: I had to change the link to the article on Ancestry's blog, as Ancestry redid their posts from the past two days. I'm sorry if anyone tried the link, and couldn't find the article.

Michigan Genealogy 101 - Part One - Vital Records

As I promised a few weeks ago, here is the first post on Michigan genealogy! By now everyone has probably figured out that I am from Michigan, and since most of my ancestors settled in Michigan during the Mid-1800s, most of my genealogical research has been done in Michigan.



The state of Michigan began officially recording births, marriages and deaths in 1867, although some of the counties did not begin recording until 1868. You can easily find out when a county started recording vital records through the Library of Michigan's county clerk directory. (To those who already know this and are reading this post, I am sorry for repeating information.) When I read Carol McGinnus' book, I remember (I think) that she mentioned that the law called for recording vital records starting March of 1867. So, if you had an ancestor who was born or died before March 1867, the chances are that you will probably not find a civil record.



Marriages before 1867, on the other hand, may have been record by a county clerk. From what I remember, I think Carol stated in her book that county clerks were required by law, since 1805, to record marriages. Of course, that depends on when the county was formed. I know St. Joseph County has recorded marriages since 1832 primarily because I've done research in that county. Again, the link up above would probably be the best way to find out when a county started recording vital records.



If you go to the Library of Michigan to research, be aware that the Library only has vital records dating from 1867.



In my next post, I'll talk about doing research in the Library of Michigan.

More Genealogy blogs posted

Over the past several weeks, I have posted links to several different genealogy blogs. Since I added links several blogs in the past several weeks, I don't remember when I posted all of the new ones, so if I miss mentioning the name of a blog, it is not intentional and you have my apologies.

Some of the blogs I have posted links to recently are:

• FamilySearch's FamilySearch Labs
• Jasia's Creative Gene
• Becky Wiseman's Kinexxions blog
• Miram's 'AnceStories: The Stories of my ancestors'
• Nancy Robertson's 'News from Nancy, State Librarian of Michigan'

If anyone has any other genealogy blogs that they want listed or should be listed, just post the name and a link in the comments. I welcome all suggestions.

Two More History Books

I just thought that I would mention two history books that might be useful in doing genealogy. What I mean is that these two books maybe beneficial for background information or for research. Currently, I am still reading both books at the moment.

The first book is Small Town America: A Narrative History, 1620-the present by Richard Lingeman (Houghton Mifflin Co.: Boston, 1980). As the title suggests, the book is about the history of small towns in America, and how the towns developed.

The second book is The Puritan Family: Religion and Domestic Relations in Seventh-Century New England by Edmund S. Morgan (Harper Torchbooks: New York, 1966). As this title suggests, the book is on the Puritan family.

I realize these may be old or out of print, but they may be in libraries. I just thought I would mention these two books as possible background sources.

My Personality Type and Other Quizes

I just learned about this personality test How Rare is Your Personality? from reading Randy Seaver's post on this quiz.

Here are my results:

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISFP)

Your personality type is caring, peaceful, artistic, and calm. Only about 7% of all people have your personality, including 8% of all women and 6% of all menYou are Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving.

http://www.blogthings.com/howrareisyourpersonalityquiz/">How Rare Is Your Personality?

Well, according to this quiz, my personality is only slightly rare. Oh, well, there still isn't anyone else like me out there.

After I took that quiz, I took another personality type quiz: What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Here's what this quiz said:

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well.An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly.You are also good at remembering information and convincing someone of your point of view.A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofintelligencedoyouhavequiz/">What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Well, it seems to be somewhat accurate. Either way, I think these quizes are fun and really don't mean that much. There are many other types of personality quizes on the site. Some I think are really funny, and others that I don't think are appropriate.

Ancestry has teamed up with a Genetics company

I realize that I am little behind on writting about Ancestry's new partnership with a genetics company. Ancestry's blog posted this article on their blog within the past few days: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1542.

I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not. I haven't given much thought about genetic genealogy primarily because I have only been doing genealogy for the past four years. Personally, I think genealogy is much more interesting and fun when one is digging through old documents. My concern is that if Ancestry is going to have DNA data put into an electronic system, they will charge an extreme amount for other people to access. Also, if DNA data is going to be digitized and available on the internet, wouldn't that information be easily stolen by hackers? I know that this concerns may seem to be trivial, but has anyone taken any consideration of the consequences of what Ancestry and Sorenson Genetics are doing?

It would be nice if the price of DNA testing kits dropped; then it would be much easier for those who are interested in genetic genealogy to take time to have their DNA tested. Since I really do not know much about genetic genealogy, I don't believe I have the qualifications to write very much on genetic genealogy.

"MyHeritage Site"

I just learned about the "MyHeritage" genealgoy site a few days ago from reading an article on Randy Seaver's blog. You can read his article here: http://randysmusings.blogspot.com/2007/06/visiting-myheritage-data-portal.html#links .

I don't know how many people already knew about this site, but this was the first time I heard about. I didn't post anything on this website earlier because I was testing out the site. This site has a search engine that will search for a surname and up to ten variations of that surname that are listed on genealogy sites. The engine simplifies searching for genealogy information by only looking at genealogy websites. In order to use that search you have to register and download a program that will enable you to carry out the search. The search may take a while to complete as it is searching a very large number of genealogy websites, and it may take longer to finish if your computer runs slow. Unfortunately, my computer runs slow and everytime I tried to do a search my computer froze. So, I really have not been able to truly test this site out, which is frustrating to me. So, you may want to keep in mind if you do decied to use this search engine, your computer may run slow.

Of course there is more to this site than the search engine; I just haven't had chance to check out the rest of the site as a result of the problems I have had with my computer. If you are interested, here is the link to the site: http://www.myheritage.com/

A Useful Article of Tips from Ancestry's Blog

I forgot to mention this article earlier in the week when it was posted on Ancestry's blog. The article is on how to determine the religious affliation of your ancestors. I read this article with a great interest because I am having difficulty determining the religious affliation of some of my ancestors. Without knowing my ancestors' religious beliefs, I will defenitely have difficulty tracing my ancestors. I hope to use some of the tips in this article.

You can read this article by clicking on this link: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1501

Ancestry.com is working on Canadian passenger lists

I forgot to mention this; it was posted a couple of days ago. Ancesty.com is working with a Canadian group to index Canadian passenger lists. You can find out more information on ancestry's blog: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1488

Of course, you know what that means: another Ancestry database.

An Interesting Michigan History book

Although I read this book a few years ago, I still wanted to mention it because it deals with an unfimiliar part of Michigan's history. Tom Powers' Michigan Rogues, Desperadoes, and Cut-throats (Friede Publications: Davison, Miscigan, 2002) is, as the title suggests, about 19th Century Michigan criminals. The book only showcases a few of Michigan's criminals; however, I wanted to mention this book because of the descriptions of life in towns near the lumbering mills. I also wanted to mention this book because I plan to start posting information on doing Michigan genealogy.

Speaking of Michigan genealogy, I hope to begin posting on that topic soon.

FamilySearch Indexing

For the past several weeks I have been a volunteer with the FamilySearch Indexing program. So far, I have primarily helped with indexing the 1900 Census. Some of the handwriting has been hard to read, but most of the handwriting on the censuses images that I have transcribed and indexed were not difficult to read.

I am not a member of the LDS church. I just found about the project while searching on the internet, and I decided to volunteer.

You can find out more about FamilySearch Indexing here: http://www.familysearchindexing.org/en/index.jsp

Please note, that you will have to download FamilySearch Indexing's program in order to help index the images of that are being indexed.

More blogs listed

I've added several more blogs today. You can find these and others on the lower left side of the page. Here's the list:

• C. McNicholl's The Scottish Genealogy blog
• Daniel Morgan's Genealogy blog
• David Lambert's blog
• Family Bibles blog
• Family Research: English, Scottish and Irish Genealogy News and Articles
• Footnote blog
• Renee Zamora's Genealogy blog
• Steve Danko's Genealogy blog
• Susan E. Smith's "Midwestern Genealogist"
• Teri's Pennsylvania History and Genealogy blog
• The Genealogue
• Wally Huskonen's Ohio Genealogy blog
• West in New England
• Melissa's Australian Genealogy blog

Another blog listed

I just added another genealogy blog today:

Craig Manson's Geneablogie

You can find his blog and others on the left side of the page. If anyone has any other suggestions for blogs, he or she is more than welcome to post them.

More blogs listed

I have just added these blogs today:

Ancestors at Rest

Death Records blog

Genealogy and How

You can find these blogs and other blogs on the lower left side of my blog. I realize that the blogs that are listed so far are not comprehensive. If anyone else has any other suggestions for genealogy blogs, he or she is more than welcome to suggest them.

Michigan Genealogy book

I realize I haven't posted very much on genealogy, so I have decided to begin a annual posting series on Michigan genealogy. Why Michigan? Most of my experience in doing genealogical research originated from doing research in Michigan. I am primarily familiar with Michigan records. Before I begin, though, I want to mention a genealogy book. Carol Mc Ginnis' Michigan Genealogy: Sources and Resources, Second edition (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.: Baltimore, MD, 2005), is a genealogy guide to starting genealogy research in Michigan. In addition to listing possibly records to research, she also lists other important information such as when Michigan took state censuses and when Michigan passed laws on vital records, especially when marriage laws were changed or amended. It is quite invaluable for doing research in Michigan, especially when you are trying to determine when a person could legally get married without needing parental consent.

In future posts, I will post more on doing genealogical research in Michigan and on my experiences.

Blog List Posted

I have added a list of genealogy blogs to this site. You can find them on the lower left. Please note: This is not a comprehensive list; I have just started this list, and I plan to add more in the future.

If you have any suggestions for other genealogy blogs, please feel free to list the blogs.

Thanks,

Jess

Another Interesting History Book

Even though Memorial Day has already passed, I thought I would recommend a history book that I read over a year ago and found to be interesting. Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation by Joshua E. London(John Wiley & Sons, Inc: Hoboken, New Jersey, 2005) is about how the United States' dealt with the pirate states of North Africa. In short it is about the U.S.'s naval war against the pirates of the Barbary Coast.

I realize that this also a book on maritime history; however, this book deals with a war that would be unknown to most Americans.

The book is well written, and I highly recommend it for reading. It is definitely enlightening about an event in history that is not well-known.

Some Information on the Mexican-American War

I deceided to post some information on the Mexican-American War, since I complained earlier about Ancestry not included information on this war in their military database.

Here is a link to some information on the Mexican-America War. It is run by an organization made up of descendants of Mexican-American War veterans. http://www.dmwv.org/mexwar/mexwar1.htm

Also, one can find information on the war in Robert Leckie's The Wars of America (Castle Books: Edison, NJ, 1998). There is a whole section on this war in the book.

I realize that this is not a complete list. I did not intend this list to be complete; I just wanted to put out a couple of resources.

Free Access to Ancestry's Military Records

I just learned about this last night from an e-mail. Ancestry is making its military records available to look at for free online until June 6. Obviously, this is a wonderful opportunity for those who don't have an ancestry subscription to see if they can find military records on their ancestors.

You can find out more about the database on Ancestry's blog: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1436

My only problem with the database is that Ancestry has completely forgotten about the Mexican-American War, which was fought between 1846 and 1848. I realize this might be a petty complaint, but the war had an impact on U.S. history. The U.S. acquired the territory of present day California, and most of Arizonia and New Mexico as a result of this war.

I realize that not everyone is a student of history, but when it comes to posting a database on military records, there should be some acknowledgement that the U.S. fought a war against Mexico. My point is: if ancestry is going to post information on every major war that the U.S. has been involved in, they should make as much effort to ensure that they have posted information on all of the wars as they do creating the presentations about their databases. Ancestry has a nice presentation on their military database, but with all of the effort and time that was spent on creating that presentation, it does not appear as impressive when someone knows that one of the wars has been left out. To those who know that there was another war between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, it appears that Ancestry did not spend enough time researching or did not spend enough time on the project at all.

If someone is going to post an impressive presentation on military records online, that person needs to spend the time to ensure that he or she has all of the facts; otherwise, that person's presentation does not appear impressive.

Recommended Genealogy Book

So far, all of the books that I have recommended on this blog have been history books; however, I have decided to recommend a genealogy book that I read when I first started doing genealogy. (I am in no way connected to this author or any authors of any books that I recommend.)

A very good beginner's genealogy book is Unpuzzling Your Past by Emily Anne Croom (Betterway Books: Cincinnati, Ohio, 2003).

This book is, as I stated before, a how-to book for beginners, even though there are many great tips in the book. The book is focused on records in the United States. (On another day, I'll recommend other genealogy books on other countries.)

New Ancestry Database

I just found out about a new Ancestry database by looking on Ancestry's blog. I just thought that I would mention that Ancestry has posted a new immigration database. The immigration manifests for the Mexico-U.S. border crossings have now been posted. You can find out more here: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1344

New Proquest Database

I just learned about a new Proquest database from an e-mail today. I think some libraries, mainly university libraries would have it. The new Proquest database is on the U.S. Civil War. The article about the database is below:

http://il.proquest.com/pressroom/pressrelease/07/20070501

I just wanted to let everyone know.

A Genealogy Novel Blog

I just learned about this work-in-progress novel blog from an e-mail, and I thought I would mention it. It is a mystery novel with a genealogical twist, and is very well written. I have enjoyed all of the chapters that the author has posted so far, and I cannot wait for the next post.

Here is where you can find the novel: http://harrymcfryinvestigates.blogspot.com/

Yet Another Rootsweb Website

I've just learned about another website from an e-mail. This Rootsweb site has many links to British Isles genealgoy and research. I haven't fully checked out this website yet because I haven't had time.

Here is the link to the site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~lancsopc/RUS/Guide.htm

Another Genealogy Website and Resource

I learned about this website earlier today from an e-mail. It is a Rootsweb website, and it is a website where one can post their family group sheets. The site is divided into the fifty states of the United States and international. I've taken a brief look at the website, and I think it is a good resource even though I haven't found any connections yet.

Here is the URL address for the website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usfgs

A Genealogy Website

I just thought I would mention this website. I've known about it for a little while, but I haven't done much exploring on the site because I haven't had much time. From what I have seen, the website looks to be a how-to-do genealogy and more. Also the website has videos on different genealogy topics.

Here's a link to the website: http://www.rootstelevision

Another Interesting Maritime History Book

As I promised yesterday, I will write about another maritime history book that I found interesting. The book I'm talking about is Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, The U.S. Exploration Expedition, 1838-1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking: New York, NY, 2003).

As the title of the book states, the book is on the U.S. Exploration Expedition and the voyage's accomplishments. Before I read this book, I did not know anything about this voyage. This book is very interesting, and I highly recommend it to anyone, not just adults, to read.

Free Access to Immigration Records

In case you haven't heard, yet Ancestry is offering free access to its immigration records. You can find more information about this offer on Ancestry's blog: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1264

Another Martime History Book

I have just recently finished reading two other interesting maritime history books, one which I will write about in another post.

The latest maritime history book that I have read is Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen (Perennial: New York, NY, 2004). As you can see from the title of the book, this book is about Ferdinand Magellan and the expedition he led, but the book is not completely focused on Magellan. Rather, the book is focused on the voyage as a whole and the history behind the voyage. Also the author includes world history and events that is relevant to the time period of the voyage.

The book is quite fascinating, and I learned more about the voyage from this book than I learned from a textbook.

I must give one note of caution, though: I would not recommend this book to anyone younger than 17 because there is some information in the book that could be considered a little graphic. Other than that, it is an excellant book.

News on Ancestry.com

I just recently read an interesting article on Ancestry.com's blog about their offer of free genealogy help in the future at Jamestown. From what I have gathered from the post, this offer is to people find out whether or not their ancestry traces back to Jamestown. It seems to be a generous offer, but I don't know if they are going to offer free access to databases on their website to everyone else. Not everyone will be able to go to Jamestown to take advantage of the offer. (It would be nice if that did happen.)

You can read more about this offer here: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1261#more-1261

I wonder what Ancestry.com's customers think about this offer. I realize that it costs money to put records online, but I have to agree with others that Ancestry's subscription prices are a little too exorbitant. From what I have read of other people's comments (I realize that this is not the most a reliable source), Ancestry.com apparently has had recently a poor track record when it comes to customer service. From what I have read of some of the comments on Ancestry's blog, Ancestry removed some records late last year without notifying its customers, which of course, angered many customers, and that Ancestry has been slow in responding to customer complaints.

To those who are Ancestry.com customers, what do you think about this offer?

Two More Censuses for Scotland Added on Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com has just added the 1881 and 1901 Censuses for Scotland online as of yesterday. At least it was yesterday for Ancestry Library, if the cenuses were added earlier to Ancestry.com. (I do not have a subscription to Ancestry.com; I can get Ancestry Library from a local library.)

You can read more about it, on Ancestry's blog:
http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1236

A Little About Me

In case you were wondering, here is a little about myself: I have been doing genealogy for about three-and-a-half years. I realize this not a long time, but I don't consider myself an expert in genealogy. (I'm not.)

Changes - Editing

I just wanted to note that I did edit a few of my previous posts. Most of the editing was for grammatical and spelling errors, but I did add the rest of the title and publishing information of the history books that I have recently posted. I added that information to make it easier for other people to find those books and to let other people know which edition of the book that I was describing.