No Stimulus for Stone-Straightening Industry

If you're wondering why the stones at your local veterans' cemetery are crooked, ask Joe Biden.

[Members of Biden's stimulus watchdog group] have spent a lot of time trying to kill projects that sound like red alerts on Fox News: a plan for military-cemetery headstone-straightening was scrapped, as was a request for a $10,000 refrigerator to house fish sperm in South Dakota. [Link]

Source: The Genealogue | 3 Jul 2009 | 3:15 pm

Top Ten Reasons Our Ancestors Came to America

10. Took wrong turn at Bering land bridge.

9. Slavers seemed pretty insistent.

8. Sought religious freedom and the right to disembowel Quakers.

7. Nothing good to watch on BBC.

6. Took their orders from Neil Diamond.

5. Potato famine put big dent in profits from Irish fish-and-chip franchises.

4. To oppose anyone else being allowed to immigrate to America.

3. Sick of having unpronounceable names.

2. Wanted the right to vote on behalf of their wives.

1. Hoped to one day be listed on Ellis Island website.

Source: The Genealogue | 3 Jul 2009 | 11:48 am

Nebraska: A+

I’ve never been to Nebraska, though that will soon change.  My interactions with Nebraska libraries, archives and societies have been limited, but in each case I was pleased with the results.  And I had never ordered a vital record from Nebraska until a couple of weeks ago.

The death certificate I wanted was from 1919.  In Missouri, that would be a freebie because of the State Archives’ digitization project.  In Illinois, I could either drive to Springfield and print it for fifty cents or hire someone for a small fee.  But the record is in Nebraska and the cost from the state was $11, which isn’t outrageous though I was expecting to wait a while before it would show up.

How does a week sound?

From the time I mailed my request until the time the death certificate arrived in the mail was exactly one week.  When you consider there was a weekend and travel time in the mail — two days there and two days back — in the equation, this means that my request only took one day to fill.

Outstanding.

Source: ShowMeAncestors | 2 Jul 2009 | 11:14 pm

Wolke Neun

After too much procrastination over the past few years, I emailed a German archive exactly one month ago about a handful of records that I wanted to obtain.  I had expected to get a letter or email explaining how much I owed and where to send the check, but heard nothing as the days passed.

Today was a day off, so I slept in, went to see a nephew’s daycare’s Fourth of July “parade” before lunch, and then shopped for the family’s Fourth of July party.  During a late afternoon pit stop, the mail came.  A large envelope stood out among the business-sized envelopes and a small box (which contained an item of genealogical interest, something that I’ll write about in the future).  This large envelope stood out further because of the blue Luftpost sticker in the middle and the German archive’s logo at the top right corner.

When I opened the envelope and found nine pages, I assumed it was an act of good faith; the archive trusted I would submit payment for the enclosed copies.  But it was better than that.  The copies were free — no fees for research, no fees for postage.  To be honest, I fully expected that my request for five records was going to cost a nice chunk of change if for no other reason that the current exchange rate.  To be given these records is extremely generous and I appreciate the gesture, but I intend to send the archives a very nice letter, a donation and another research request (of course).

As for the records, four of the five I sought were found and copied.  Translation will be required, but after a quick look I have already confirmed some suspicions, found a date which proves an American source is incorrect and the names of some “new” ancestors.

It was a good day.

Source: ShowMeAncestors | 2 Jul 2009 | 10:57 pm

Man With Head Wound Thinks He's Abe Lincoln

John "Abe" Lincoln has much in common with his famous cousin.

John will tell you his nose and ears make him look something like Honest Abe, especially from the right side.

But what really links him to the late President: both men were shot in the head. John Wilkes Booth, of course, shot President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in April 1865. John Lincoln was shot in Southwest Philadelphia in 1971 while working for SEPTA.

"When everybody heard about me getting shot in the head, that's what they started calling me, [Abe]," he said. "People call me John, and I don't respond to it. People call me Abe, I respond to it." [Link]

Only in 2077, when a third distant Lincoln relative is shot in the head, will police recognize this as a conspiracy.

Source: The Genealogue | 2 Jul 2009 | 10:21 pm

Congresswoman Takes Leave of Her Census

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says she's not going to fill out her 2010 census form. So Will Caskey filled one out for her.

He said that on a recent slow Friday at his Democratic opposition research firm, he drafted his own census form based on earlier questionnaires and scoured Google and public records for answers — on Bachmann.

He filled in the form [pdf] with her address, phone number, salary and home value, among other peeks into the congresswoman’s life in Minnesota. According to Caskey’s report, she lives on a 2.75-acre property in Stillwater, Minn., in a house that has between eight and 11 bedrooms.

“She can and should expect that people look at the public aspect of her life,” Caskey said. “For her to say that the questions are very personal, it’s a little silly.” [Link]

Caskey couldn't figure out from public records "whether she is selling agricultural products in her home, the state of her mental health, how much she is spending on fuel, or her ancestry." I, too, am not sure about her mental health, but her ancestry is Norwegian.

Source: The Genealogue | 2 Jul 2009 | 9:47 pm

Island Romance Unlikely

Could Sandi Schneider's mother have been conceived on Ellis Island?

No, cohabitation was not permitted at Ellis Island. Detained male and female immigrants were sent to separate quarters. Children stayed with their mothers in the women’s dormitories.

Source: The Genealogue | 2 Jul 2009 | 5:49 pm

Danish National Archives moving into new storage facilities

Nyt Rigsarkiv på Kalvebod Brygge:
"I efteråret 2009 begynder indflytningen af arkivalier til Rigsarkivets og Landsarkivet for Sjællands nye magasiner på Kalvebod Brygge i København.

Magasinerne har plads til ca. 370 hyldekilometer arkivalier, hvilket svarer til Rigsarkivets og Landsarkivet for Sjællands behov frem til 2030.

De nye magasiner udgør fase 1 ud af to faser i en regeringsbeslutning fra 2003 om byggeriet af et nyt Rigsarkiv i København.

I fase 2 af byggeprojektet skal alle funktioner fra Rigsarkivet og Landsarkivet for Sjælland samles i et nyt Rigsarkiv på Kalvebod Brygge. Det er endnu ikke besluttet, hvornår fase 2 skal gennemføres.
De nye magasiner

Byggeriet består i fase 1 af tre hovedelementer:

Det mest markante element er de to store 15,5 meter høje haller. Hallerne er opdelt med indre brandsektionsvægge i fire separate højlagermagasiner. Der er monteret udstyr til brandalarmering og sektionsvis sprinkling til automatisk udløsning. I højlagermagasinerne findes mobile reoler, der er ca. 12.5 meter høje.

I de høje reoler foretages ekspedition ved brug af hurtige smalgangs pluktrucks. Det sikrer en væsentlig bedre hastighed i fremtagning fra hylder end i konventionelle reolsystemer.

Hallerne forbindes med DSB's kontorbygning af en 7 meter høj mellembygning. I denne mellembygning er der indrettet 7 separate magasiner med to-etages mobilreoler og ristegulve mellem etagerne. Fire af disse magasiner er topsikrede til opbevaring af særligt klassificeret materiale (fx efterretningstjenestens arkiv, Nato-papirer mv.)."

Source: GENEALOGE | 2 Jul 2009 | 1:32 pm

part time job

Genealogy Advisor at MyHeritage.com

Are you an expert in genealogy and have some spare time?

We have a genealogy project you may like to put your hands on:
MyHeritage.com is looking for an experienced genealogist to help us build relationships with the
genealogy community in the UK.
We’re looking for someone who would like to use some of his time, knowledge and network to help
MyHeritage develop and strengthen its bonds with genealogy people, organizations and associations;
and of course, get paid while doing it!

If you’re up for this challenge, your main activities involve:
* Engage with the UK genealogy community as an ambassador of MyHeritage and build
relationships to open a conversation channel for the company.
* Identify problems to be solved and provide feedback to the company. Find potential areas with
opportunities for product adjustments or new developments.
* Stay on top of what’s happening in the genealogy community, including the latest developments,
fairs and competitors’ news. Keep MyHeritage team updated.
* Promote MyHeritage genealogy tools and developments using different means to reach
genealogists: by phone, email, meetings or attending fairs.
What you should be like:
* A genealogy enthusiast, a researcher who knows everything about family history.
* Have knowledge of the UK genealogy community, preferably with already existing links.
* Recognize technology as a key tool to help genealogists and use it for your own research and data
organization. Knowledge of the software package available for genealogy.
* Be familiar with MyHeritage/Family Tree Builder’s functionalities and be eager to promote them.
We offer:
* Work for one of the biggest genealogy companies on the Internet.
* Be part of an international team of people with different skills and benefit from sharing knowledge
and experience.
* Get support for your own research and broaden your connections in the genealogy field.
* Flexible hours (making up to around 1 day per week) and financial remuneration negotiable on
experience and availability.

About MyHeritage:

We are a family social network with strong genealogy features. On myheritage.com you can create a
family tree, share pictures, organize family events, download our genealogy software ‘Family Tree
Builder’ and search for ancestors online.
The company was founded in 2003 near Tel Aviv (Israel) and has more than 32 million users by
now. Visit MyHeritage.com to get the full story, and browse our company blog for more info:
http://www.myheritage.com/blogs/companyblog/

To apply please write an email with a brief note on:
- Why you would like to do the job.
- Why you think you’re the right person to do it.

Please attach your full CV for some more details on your experience.
Send it to mario@myheritage.com with the subject “Application – Genealogy Advisor”.

Source: GENEALOGE | 2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 pm

Professor Ahnentafels Correspondence School of Genealogy

Professor Ahnentafels Correspondence School of Genealogy
At PACSOG we take great pride in ensuring that all of our graduates are cognizant of the importance of citations. Our maxim is: No source? Fail the course!

 

Professor Ahnentafels Correspondence School of Genealogy is availabe now
at the Genealogy Gifts store. t-shirts, mousemats, mugs, buttons, coasters.

Source: Genealogy Gifts Blog | 2 Jul 2009 | 6:50 am