Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Today's Newsletter is Sponsored by RootsBooks

Stop by RootsBooks, your one-stop online genealogy bookstore. RootsBooks is the genealogy store for books, computers, software and more. Rootsbooks has two divisions:

North America: http://www.RootsBooks.com
U.K.: http://www.RootsBooks.co.uk

NEW book in stock and ready for shipment: Who Do You Think You Are?: The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History for only $14.40!

FamilySearch Indexing Update: 19 March 2010

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

19 March 2010

New this week: the first indexing projects for Portugal and the Isle of Man. Also of note is a new sign-in process for FamilySearch Indexing. Beginning this week, indexers will need to create a free FamilySearch Account, which will provide the convenience of using just one user name and password for all FamilySearch Web sites.

New Projects This Past Week

Tonight on Who Do You Think You Are?

Check NBC at 8 PM Eastern time, 7 PM Central, for Lisa Kudrow's experiences finding her roots in Belarus.

The former Friends actress is an executive producer of Who Do You Think You Are? Tonight's episode is sort of a self-portrait with the executive producer taking a film crew to Belarus to find her own roots.

Kudrow said: "I just got back from Belarus. I was tracing my family tree and I found out some members of my family were killed in the Holocaust, which was such a terrible shock."

She claimed that the experience changed the way she sees people, adding that it was "pretty affecting" to visit the site where all the Jews of the village were killed.

If you miss the show on NBC, check later on http://www.hulu.com.

Friends Reunited Sale Approved by Competition Commission

The sale of the Friends Reunited website to the newspaper group, DC Thomson, based in Dundee, has been approved by the Competition Commission.

This was not one of ITV's better investments. ITV paid £120 million for Friends Reunited in December 2005 and is now selling it for £25 million. The online site had 15 million users in December 2005 but that number apparently has dropped significantly in  the past four years.

What the Census Said About Us...in 1870

Radical Cartography has published dozens of stunning charts and maps that illustrate much of the data in the 1870 U.S. census. You can view small versions of the maps and charts on your screen or download much larger images as ZIP files and then view them offline at your leisure.

The 1870 census was the first statistical census of the United States. Earlier efforts focused mostly on the names and the total number of inhabitants. The 1870 census asked many more questions and those answers were tabulated to provide an interesting statistical picture of a fast-growing country that was full of immigrants.

Back Up Your Online Data

Sure, we all know how to back up files that are on our hard drives, right? There are multiple methods of accomplishing that. How about backing up your data on Facebook? or Google Docs? or Zoho Docs? or how about backing up your blog on Blogger.com or Wordpress? How about all your pictures on Flickr or Photobucket? What would happen of a system glitch erased all your information on those services? Could you recover? 

Perhaps most important of all, how about all your stored email messages on Gmail or Hotmail? Many of use use those online services as "filing cabinets" for our email messages and may have thousands of messages stored on one of those online services. If Hotmail or Google suddenly loses your stored messages, what will you do?

U.S. Version of Who Do You Think You Are? to be Broadcast in the U.K.

UKTV has picked up the U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? from Outright Distribution for its family entertainment channel Watch.

UKTV now holds the exclusive U.K. multichannel and non-linear broadcast rights for the show, which will premiere on Watch later this year.

Paul Moreton, the Watch channel head, said: "I’m incredibly delighted that we’ve secured the U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? Getting such an invaluable insight into the lives of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars means this is real must-see family telly, perfect for Watch."

Mormon Church Gives First Lady Michelle Obama a Volume of Her Family History

LDS Church apostle Dallin Oaks presented first lady Michelle Obama with a copy of her family's genealogy during a short visit to the White House on Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat and a member of the Mormon church, arranged the meeting and accompanied Oaks and other LDS officials to a sit-down private visit with Mrs. Obama, where she received a copy her family's ancestral history.

Google Street View Now Covers 95 Percent of UK Roads

Google Street view has received a major update: anyone can now look at 95 percent of the UK's roads. You may be able to see where your ancestors lived, although not the view they saw in "the good old days." Even static landmarks such as Stonehenge have been captured.

Google Street View was introduced to the UK last March, but was originally only available in 25 major cities.

Charles Hall, R.I.P.

Genealogical friends will want to know of Charles Hall's recent passing. He was particularly involved in German-American genealogy and a friend to all. He authored 10 books to help genealogists in the German and Prussian areas. He also founded two genealogical societies: Palatines to America and the Federation of Eastern European Family History Societies.

Tips for Tracing Irish Roots

It is St. Patrick's Day. I was going to write an article about how to trace your Irish ancestry but there are two problems:  (1.) I am not an expert on Irish ancestry and (2.) someone else already beat me to it.

Julie Miller is a professional genealogist, an excellent writer, and noted lecturer. She knows a LOT about researching Irish roots. Julie wrote an excellent article, Tips for Tracing Irish Roots, which has been published in the Broomfield Enterprise.

(+) Adding 3G to the iPad

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

As mentioned in yesterday's newsletter, I recently ordered an Apple iPad tablet computer. I expect delivery on or about April 3. The iPad is available with varying amounts of memory and can also be ordered with or without 3G wireless networking.

All iPads include wi-fi wireless networking at no additional charge. While normally very fast, wi-fi requires the user to be within 100 or 200 feet of a wi-fi base station, normally referred to as a "hotspot." Such hotspots can be installed in homes, and you will also find many more in restaurants, coffee shops, airport waiting lounges, and even on some commuter trains. The short range of wi-fi hotspots limits the usefulness of such connections.

(+) A Wi-Fi Hotspot in Your Shirt Pocket

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

I recently purchased a new gadget and have fallen in love with it: a tiny wireless device that connects to cell towers many miles away, makes high-speed data connections, then re-broadcasts the signals on wi-fi wireless networking to local laptop computers, handheld computers, and smartphones (cell phones with built-in computing capabilities). I now have long-range wireless networking available wherever I go.

This battery-powered device is so tiny that I could carry three or four of them in a shirt pocket, although I only need one. I carry a “personal wi-fi hotspot” with me wherever I go. When I give my next presentation at a genealogy society event, I probably will be carrying my Internet access in my pocket.

The Irish Cultural Centre of New England

One of the better resources for learning about your Irish ancestors is the Irish Cultural Centre of New England (the ICCNE). Housed in a thatched-roof, whitewashed stone cottage amid acres of green fields, although behind a mundane stretch of office park buildings, the Centre promotes the importance of Irish History and Culture through several offerings:

1. Availability of an outstanding campus, open and accessible to all
2. The Music / Dance / Arts / Literature of the Irish people
3. Sports as an important part of the Irish Culture
4. Applying Irish History to Modern Day Realities
5. Language and Genealogy
6. An Umbrella organization, helping other organizations to prosper

The National Archives at New York City is Moving

The following announcement was written by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration:

The National Archives at New York City is pleased to announce that within the next two years we will move our office to the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House at One Bowling Green in New York City. Our new home will be located in the same building as the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. The building is currently known as the Custom House building, designed by Cass Gilbert in the Beaux Arts style and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Phantom Street in Derry's Census

Beware the census transcriptions! Here is a perfect story about why you always want to look at images of original records:

Genealogists searching the online Irish census of 1911 for their Derry ancestors have been left puzzled by a "phantom" street in the city. More than 100 homes are listed on a "Lesky Road" in Derry's Urban 4 district, which roughly covers the modern day Bogside. There is but one problem: Lesky Road does not exist today and apparently never did in the past.

Tennessee State Library and Archives Sets Workshop on "Quilts of Tennessee"

The Tennessee State Library and Archives will host the latest in a series of workshops and seminars titled, “Quilts of Tennessee: What they Can Tell Us About Our Ancestors,” April 17. The workshop will be held from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at the State Library and Archives building, located at 403 Seventh Ave. N. in Nashville.

Lori D. Lockhart, a fourth generation Tennessee quilter and archivist at TSLA, will conduct the workshop, which is free and open to the public.

Follow-Up: New Zealand May Combine National Library and National Archives

On March 8, I wrote about a plan to combine the National Library of New Zealand and the National Archives of New Zealand into the Department of Internal Affairs. That article is still available at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/03/new-zealand-may-combine-national-library-and-national-archives-into-the-department-of-internal-affai.html. Now, New Zealand archivists say they are waiting "in the dark" and are increasingly worried about a lack of information and consultation over moves to restructure Archives New Zealand.

Duplicating Federal Videos for an Online Archive

A group of volunteers is helping the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration place videos online for easy public access. The International Amateur Scanning League, an invention of the longtime public information advocate Carl Malamud, plans to upload the archives’ collection of 3,000 DVDs in what Mr. Malamud calls an “experiment in crowd-sourced digitization.”

The league is a small demonstration that volunteers can sometimes achieve what bureaucracies can’t or won’t. David S. Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, said the archives were fully supportive of what the citizen group was doing.

Chelsea Pensioners' Service Records go Online at Findmypast.co.uk

The following announcement was written by findmypast.co.uk:

Today leading family history website findmypast.co.uk  launches its most exciting record collection online since the 1911 census - The Chelsea Pensioners' British Army Service Records - in association with The National Archives and in partnership with FamilySearch.

Known as "WO 97" at The National Archives, these most frequently viewed records are now online at findmypast.co.uk for the first time ever. The collection comprises over 6 million full colour images of the service records of soldiers in the British Army in receipt of a pension administered by The Royal Hospital Chelsea, and who were discharged between the dates 1760 and 1913.

I Ordered an Apple iPad

As I wrote a few weeks ago, Apple recently announced a new tablet computer to be called the iPad. This device has been hyped more in the past few months than the Super Bowl. Thousands of news articles have appeared online and in print, trying to guess what the new device would be. The announcement stopped the guesswork: the iPad will be a one-pound, battery-powered computer with a 9.7 inch screen.

You can watch the introduction of the iPad at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU6isGR3PaM

Apple started accepting orders a few days ago on Friday, March 12, and reportedly sold 120,000 units the first day. I ordered one early that morning, and I plan to write about it once I receive it. The delivery is planned for April 3. I will first spend a bit of "hands on" time. I will load several genealogy applications on the iPad. I hope to describe my successes or failures in this newsletter a day or two after delivery.

Second Week of "Who Do You Think You Are?" More Popular than the First

The new genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are improved in its second week and helped NBC to second place on Friday, just 0.1 behind leader CBS, according to Nielsen overnights.

"Who" averaged a 1.8 adults 18-49 rating, up 13 percent over a 1.6 for the previous week's debut and up 50 percent over the network's average for the 8 p.m. timeslot last year.

Did Your Ancestor Live in One of Britain's Stately Homes?

Visitors to Britain's stately homes will be able to find out whether their ancestors were the lords of the manor, or merely the scullery maids, under a new research programme backed by the National Trust. The organisation is helping to fund investigations into the family trees of the people who lived and worked in Britain's stately homes through the centuries.

It has been estimated that as many as one in five people have links to members of the aristocracy, famous historical figures or rich landowners.

However, there is no guarantee that a link to a grand estate will be glamorous: you might find that your forebear at the manor was actually the butler, the footman, or merely the chambermaid.

Family Tree Maker Webinar on March 24th

The following is from the Ancestry.com Blog:

If you’ve mastered the basics of Family Tree Maker and you’re ready to learn more, join us for a free webinar on March 24th at 8:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Watch as the experts demonstrate some of the advanced features available in Family Tree Maker 2010. You’ll learn how to work with the Web Merge feature, resolve unidentified place names, export different branches of your family tree, and much more. To attend the Advanced Topics webinar, click here to register.

Scam Watch: Your Family Name

Beware of the ads that recently have appeared on late-night television and on the web. These ads insinuate that they can trace your name back in time to its origins. Actually, the ads are carefully worded to always say "the origins of your name," not the "origins of your ancestors."

The ads state, "Your ancestors left you a precious legacy: your family name." The same ads also claim to offer an "extremely detailed family history" and "a scroll of your family name and origin and meaning." The Internet ad also offers "2 specially researched reports on why your ancestors got their family name and why there is a Coat of Arms listed under your family name."

Of course, the advertisements neglect to mention there is no such thing as a "family coat of arms" (except in Japan and a few rare exceptions in the Netherlands) and names came from many places. 

Census Bureau Seeks Volunteers Who Can Ride a Snowmobile

Ten years ago, somewhere in Oxford County near the town of Fryeburg, a Maine resident was living in an unorganized township with no clear roads to his domicile. We know the resident was there, U.S. Census employee David Slagger said Saturday, because that person responded to a questionnaire sent out in the last census.

The resident will be counted again as the 2010 Census gets under way this month. To do that, a census worker will have to take a 16-mile snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle ride into the woods and then snowshoe or hike another mile to find the resident.

Plus Edition Newsletter Has Been Sent

To all Plus Edition subscribers:

The weekly Plus Edition newsletter was sent to your e-mail address a short time ago. It should have arrived by now. If you have not yet seen it in your in-box, check your spam folder. If it is not there, please contact your e-mail provider to see why it was blocked. This week's entire Plus Edition newsletter is also available at: http://www.eogn.com/wp/thisweek.htm. You can always read it there, regardless of what your email provider does to your in-box.

Here are the articles in this week's Plus Edition newsletter:

 - (+) A Portable Digital Microfilm Scanner
 - (+) Why Use Internet Backup?
 - (+) How to Remotely Control a Distant Computer
 - Who Do You Think You Are? with Emmitt Smith
 - U.S. Version of Who Do You Think You Are? Goes International
 - National Archives Hosts Author of ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ Book April 14
 - Footnote.com Opens All of their U.S. Census Documents for Free to the Public
 - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
 - Mitochondrial DNA’s Surprising Variability Could Complicate Forensic and Genealogical Analyses
 - The National Archives to Discontinue Ancestors Magazine
 - RootsTelevision.com Will Survive!
 - FamilySearch Indexing Update
 - Salt Lake City Prepares for Week of Family History Celebration
 - Family History Library Classes Now Available on Internet
 - Tony Burroughs’ Online Genealogy Webinar
 - New Zealand May Combine National Library and National Archives into the Department of Internal Affairs
 - Acadian Heritage Meeting in Louisiana
 - National Tartan Day
 - 1995 Article: The Internet Will Fail
 - Newspapers Must Be Kept Alive as Print Editions
 - Never Miss a Plus Edition Newsletter

This week's Plus Edition newsletter is 49 pages long! Where else will you find this much genealogy news without advertising PER WEEK?

(+) How to Remotely Control a Distant Computer

...or perhaps a computer that is not so distant

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Remote control software for desktop and laptop computers has been available for years. All systems administrators of large data centers are familiar with these programs, as are many "work from home" individuals who need to control computers at the office on nights and weekends. However, the same technology is available to everyone; you do not need to be a systems professional in order to access the computer on your desk at the office when you’re not there or the one at home when you are traveling.

With remote control software, you can connect to your home or office system to check your e-mail. You can use a database, word processor, or other program that is installed on your home system but not on your laptop. You can connect to the office to run business applications. Want to check your genealogy program when traveling? You can do so from many miles away, even if you are using a different operating system.

I use one of these remote access products frequently. When traveling, I can connect to my computer at home and use it just as if I was seated in front of my computer at home.

Who Do You Think You Are? with Emmitt Smith

The second episode of Who Do You Think You Are? (U.S. edition) was broadcast on Friday night and again was a fascinating episode. This week's episode featured Emmitt Smith, former National Football League star. While it was broadcast on television, I watched it the following day on my computer by visiting www.hulu.com.

Smith had expectations of finding information about his slave ancestry and also possible leads back to Africa. He first returned to Pensacola, Florida, the town where he grew up, to ask his parents what they knew about their ancestry. His father also pointed Emmitt to a website that provides information about Emmitt's great-great-grandparents, William and Victoria Watson. Smith then went to Burnt Corn, Alabama, where he met a second cousin who provided leads. He then traveled to the Monroe County, Alabama, courthouse to examine records and then on to Mecklenburg County, Virginia. Here Emmitt learned that he also has white ancestry, probably the result of a forced rape of his black slave ancestor.

At that point he ran into a roadblock: a lack of records prior to 1826.

National Tartan Day

Let's make haggis!

April 6 will be the national holiday for all Scottish Americans. More than eleven million Americans claim Scottish and Scotch-Irish roots, making them the eighth largest ethnic group in the United States. From the framers of the Declaration of Independence to the first man on the moon, Scottish-Americans have contributed mightily to the fields of the arts, science, politics, law, and more. These are the people and accomplishments that are honored on National Tartan Day, April 6th.

The picture to the right is of Sean Connery with members of the United States Air Force Reserve's Pipe and Drum Band in Washington, DC. The occasion was Tartan Day, 2004.

Family History Library Classes Now Available on Internet

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Free Classes Make Genealogy Expertise Accessible Anywhere

SALT LAKE CITY–It is rare that Marcia Covington can make the trip from her home in State College, Pennsylvania, to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Now, however, people like Covington can take classes from the world-famous library without ever leaving home.

The FamilySearch Family History Library is now making its popular classes available at FamilySearch.org, where anyone anywhere in the world can access them for free at a time that is convenient for them. The classes have been offered on-site in Salt Lake City for years. Until now, attendance has been limited to those patrons who are fortunate to live in the surrounding community or happen to be visiting the library as part of a research trip. Making the classes available online allows access to many more patrons.

Newspapers Must Be Kept Alive as Print Editions

Printed newspapers are dying left and right, being replaced by online news and broadcast news. Yet there are reasons to keep print media alive. You may be happy getting your news online, but for some citizens the loss of the printed page will have a profoundly life-altering impact.

The Onion News Network presents its best argument for keeping print media breathing. Listen as a panelist describes life without thousands of old newspapers … at http://www.theonion.com/content/video/how_will_the_end_of_print?utm_source=videoembed or click on the image below.

Footnote.com Opens All of their U.S. Census Documents for Free to the Public

This is big news! The following announcement was written by Footnote.com:

FOOTNOTE.COM LETS PEOPLE CREATE AMERICA’S FAMILY TREE THROUGH THE ONLY INTERACTIVE U.S. CENSUS

-Finding Ancestors and distant relatives can be as easy as clicking a single button-

Lindon, UT - March 11, 2010  – In order to encourage more people to find their ancestors and connect with family, Footnote.com, the web’s premier interactive history site, is opening all of their U.S. census documents for free to the public for a limited time.

Unlike any other historical collection on the web, the Interactive Census Collection has the unique ability to connect people related to ancestors found on the historical documents.  Simply by clicking the “I’m Related” button for a name on the document will identify you as a descendent and also list others that have done the same.  Never before has it been as easy to connect with distant relatives through historical documents.  To learn how to get started with the Interactive Census, visit: http://go.footnote.com/discover.

U.S. Version of Who Do You Think You Are? Goes International

The U.S. version of Wall to Wall's original format Who Do You Think You Are?, which premiered in the U.S. on NBC last Friday night, has been sold by Outright Distribution into eight new territories. Wall to Wall has previously sold the U.K. version of the program in other countries and now has added the U.S. version to international distribution.

The show has been purchased by Australia’s Nine Network, New Zealand’s Prime network, Rogers Broadcasting in Canada, DR Denmark, MTV3 in Finland, SVT in Sweden, RTE.

This is Annie Moore at Ellis Island: $1,000 If You Can Prove Megan Wrong

Annie Moore was the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island on opening day: January 1, 1892. The Irish teenager was accompanied by her two brothers and they were the first people to appear on the first page of Ellis Island arrivals. (Previous arrivals were processed at Castle Garden.) Annie's name appeared first in the records.

Genealogist Megan Smolenyak has spent hundreds of hours researching Annie Moore and what happened to her after she left Ellis Island. You can read more about Megan's efforts in several past articles in this newsletter if you start at http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=site%3Aeogn.com+%22Annie+Moore%22&aq=f&aqi=&oq=.

Megan now believes that she has found a picture of Annie Moore and her brothers taken at Ellis Island on the day of her arrival. However, Megan is asking for help in proving or disproving the authenticity of the photograph. She is even offering a significant cash award.

Acadian Heritage Meeting in Louisiana

The Imperial St. Landry Genealogical and Historical Society will explore South Louisiana's rich Acadian heritage at a meeting onSaturday.  The 10 a.m. meeting at Opelousas General Health System's South Campus, the former Doctors' Hospital, is free and open to the public.

The forum's guest speaker will be Brenda Comeaux Trahan, curator-director of the Acadian Memorial and Museum in St. Martinville. Trahan will cover a number of topics, including the March 19-20 Acadian Memorial Festival, which will be held that Friday and Saturday in St. Martinville.

(+) A Portable Digital Microfilm Scanner

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

If your local genealogy society or library is looking for a new project, I have a suggestion: convert some of your microfilm and microfiche holdings to digital images so that they can be easily shared and preserved. 

If you have only one copy of the microfilm or microfiche, you probably already know how fragile it is. Microfilm and microfiche are easily scratched. Have you ever used a roll of microfilm that has already been used many times? If so, you already know what I mean. Constant usage of microfilm induces scratches. Most experienced genealogists have occasionally encountered microfilms so badly scratched that they are almost unusable.

The more you use a microfilm, the greater the damage. For examples, take a look at any the more popular microfilms at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, such as the U.S. Census records on microfilms. New working copies are made frequently because of the constant wear and tear of these microfilms.

The Next Episode of Who Do You Think You Are?

The next episode features former NFL football player Emmitt Smith who discovers his slavery roots this Friday, March 12, at 8/7c on NBC. Lisa Kudrow said his episode is the most compelling of the seven.

You can check out the teaser to the episode featuring Emmitt at http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/clips/emmitt-smiths-date-with-destiny/1205986/.

1995 Article: The Internet Will Fail

On February 27, 1995, Newsweek published an article about the future of the Internet. In that article, Clifford Stoll wrote:

Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.

Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.

Hehe, we all know how well THAT prediction turned out, don't we?

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

I recently had a chance to watch a good movie, a murder mystery. Best of all, genealogy played an important part in the solution to the crime. Then, to make it even more interesting, the movie's producers are holding an online scavenger hunt where YOU could win prizes. Details are available at the end of this article.

Since the movie involves genealogy, I was offered a chance to see the movie in advance of its release date. The obvious hope was that I might write about it in this newsletter. After having watched this film, I cannot imagine NOT writing about it! It is that good. This is a movie plot that I will long remember. I would have written about it even if I hadn't been asked to.

Disclaimer: I'm not being paid to write about it. This is simply a good movie that I enjoyed.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (original title in Swedish: "Män som hatar kvinnor" - "Men Who Hate Women") is an award-winning crime novel by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson, the first in his "Millennium Trilogy." The novel won Sweden's Glass Key Award in 2006 for best crime novel of the year; as well as the 2008 Boeke Prize. The book has been on the New York Times' Bestseller list for weeks. Larsson was posthumously awarded the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for International Author of the Year in 2008.

The novel contains a genealogical table of five generations of a family in Sweden who are under investigation. However, the movie does not contain the genealogy table, and I struggled a bit to keep track of the characters. However, keeping track of this family's genealogy is vital to understanding the subtleties of the plot.

(+) Why Use Internet Backup?

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

I have written many times about the need for backups. Many people make backups to CD disks, to plug-in USB hard disks, to jump drives, or to other devices, and then store them in their homes or offices. They think they are fully protected. After all, "I made a backup." However, just ask anyone who survived Hurricane Katrina or a California forest fire about their backups! They lost their backup data at the same time that they lost their computers and all their other belongings.

Of course, cataclysmic disasters are not the only causes of lost backups. A simple burst water pipe can ruin both your computer and your backups if they are stored near each other. Beyond that are dozens of ways media can be ruined or lost. Suffice it to say that protecting your data needs to be a major concern for all of us.

Data security experts will tell you to always keep at least two forms of backups, stored on different media, and keep them in two different places. Having three or four different forms of backups is even better.

Salt Lake City Prepares for Week of Family History Celebration

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Events to include free performance by David McCullough and Mormon Tabernacle Choir

SALT LAKE CITY — Family history will take center stage in Salt Lake City during the week of April 26, 2010, with four genealogy conferences taking place simultaneously. Over 200 genealogy workshops are scheduled through May 1, giving everyone from novices to advanced researchers access to unprecedented learning opportunities.

The National Archives to Discontinue Ancestors Magazine

The following is an announcement from The National Archives (in Great Britain, not the United States):

The National Archives currently produces a family history magazine, ‘Ancestors’, in partnership with Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd.

The current contract with Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd comes to an end on 31 March. We decided to take this opportunity to look at the magazine and make sure that it is offering best value for money, both for its readers and for The National Archives.

As a result of this review, ‘Ancestors’ will be discontinued and the last publication will be the April issue (no 94), available from Thursday 25 March.

RootsTelevision.com Will Survive!

Great news! The following was written by Megan Smolenyak:

Dear RootsTelevision.com Viewer,

OK, you convinced me! After getting inundated with emails, tweets, and Facebook postings and messages about the closing of RootsTelevision.com (RTV), I've decided to keep it going. I honestly had no clue how valued it was by the genealogical community, and I agree with the many of you who pointed out that it serves a somewhat different purpose than the prime time programming that's on TV at present (much as I've been enjoying that!). At the same time, I think many had not realized that RTV is a one-person company, but one that's not inexpensive to provide.

Tony Burroughs' Online Genealogy Webinar

Tony Burroughs is a well-known professional genealogist, college professor, writer, lecturer, television personality, and all-around nice guy. He is best known as an expert in Black genealogy but that statement ignores his many other talents. Now Tony is giving a free genealogy seminar for Ancestry.com on the web (webinar).

The webinar (or seminar, if you prefer) is entitled, Avoid Traps in African American Genealogy. The webinar's announcement states:

Even the most seasoned genealogist can make mistakes, especially when it comes to the complexities of African American research. World-renowned genealogy expert Tony Burroughs has taken wrong paths in his decades of research, but has discovered ways to avoid some common missteps. Benefit from his unique wisdom and experience with Ancestry.com as we present Avoid Traps in African American Genealogy. This free webinar offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to journey with one of the world’s foremost genealogists and find success as you search for your Black roots.

New Zealand May Combine National Library and National Archives into the Department of Internal Affairs

Prime Minister John Key says any moves to merge government departments are driven by efficiency, not ideology. Mr Key says proposals to merge a number of government agencies will be considered by the Cabinet business committee on Monday night, before going to the full Cabinet next week.

The proposals are understood to include merging the National Library and National Archives into the Department of Internal Affairs as well as several other agencies.

Mitochondrial DNA's Surprising Variability Could Complicate Forensic and Genealogical Analyses

If this proves to be true, it could again end the use of mitochondrial DNA for genealogy:

The mitochondrial genome–long thought to be nearly identical in every cell in the human body–actually varies to a surprising degree, according to new research by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists. The research shows that different forms of the mitochondrial genome can be present in different organs from the same individual, and that these forms probably arise during embryonic development.

FamilySearch Indexing Update

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

FamilySearch Indexing Update: Civil and church record projects added for Argentina, Canada, France, Peru, and the UK

8 March 2010

FamilySearch Indexers have a wide variety of records to choose from this week. Civil and church records are available from Argentina, Canada, France, Peru, and the United Kingdom. Six different groups of U.S. census records are also ready to be indexed.

New Projects

• Argentina, Cordoba—Registros Parroquiales, 1722–1924 [Parte B]
• Canada, British Columbia—Deaths, 1872–1986 [Part 4]
• Canada, New Brunswick—Births, 1810–1906
• France, Quimper et Leon, St. Louis—Registres Paroissiaux, 1722–1909 (In partnership with Cercle Généalogique du Finistere)
• Perú, Lima—Registros Civiles, 1887–1921 [Parte A]
• U.K., Bristol—Non-Conformist Registers, Pre-1900 [Part A]
• U.K., Warwickshire—Parish Registers, 1754–1900 [Part 1C]
• U.S., Indiana, Clay County—Marriages, 1811–1959
• U.S., Michigan—1910 Federal Census
• U.S., Military—1920 Federal Census
• U.S., Minnesota—1910 Federal Census
• U.S., Montana—1910 Federal Census
• U.S., Puerto Rico—1920 Censo Federal
• U.S., South Dakota—1945 State Census [Part A]

(See the chart below for a complete list and current status of all indexing projects.)

National Archives Hosts Author of 'Who Do You Think You Are' Book April 14

The following announcement was written by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration:

WASHINGTON, March 8 -- On Wednesday, April 14, at 7 p.m., the National Archives will host Megan Smolenyak, author of Who do You Think You Are?, a comprehensive guide for conducting genealogical research and the official tie-in to the NBC show of the same name that traces the genealogy of a famous person. Smolenyak, chief family historian and spokesperson for Ancestry.com, will be joined by Andrew Carroll, editor of the New York Times bestsellers War Letters and Behind the Lines.

Presidential Participation in Census Bureau Outreach Efforts

(+) How to Recover Data from a Dead PC

The following article was written by and is copyright by Dick Eastman.

NOTE: This article does not contain any genealogy information although it can retrieve such information. For instance, a friend of mine recently suffered a PC failure. She was left with a PC that would not even boot Windows. She told me that she had lost her genealogy information as a result. I replied, "Not so. You can probably recover that data with just a little bit of work." She gave me her PC and, within a couple of hours, I retrieved all of her genealogy information, along with her checkbook data, income tax records, correspondence, and much more. I thought I would share the recovery techniques with you.

Many people believe that, when a computer dies and will not boot any more, all data is lost forever. They assume that all the files on the hard drive have disappeared and that nothing can be done about it. In some situations, that may be true. However, after repairing many computers over the past 40+ years (starting long before the invention of the PC), I can assure you that data can be recovered in a high percentage of computer failures.

The problem may be a hardware failure or a software failure. First let's look at hardware failures.