"Seeker Seeking Help--Will Pay"

As you probably know, Ancestry.com earlier this year closed down its Expert Connect service. That is where those of use seeking professional assistance could post our research needs and have professional genealogists bid on the job. (I used the service and had a very positive experience, by the way.)

A recent post on the website Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog talks about this event and gives some alternative services still in existence. You can read the article at http://goo.gl/XDrDY

Civil War Map Collection

Baylor University has recently digitized the maps in the book titled 1895 War of the Rebellion Atlas. The collection contain 175 plates with verbal descriptions of the contents of each place. The collection is searchable.

The URL mentioned below will take you to a page where you can browse the collection by state, city, or body of water. You can also do a search using the box that appears in the upper right of the page. Once you find a map you are interested in, click on the small image of it. That will take you to a description of the map contents and other information. To get to the large image of the map, click on the "Access this item" hot link that is at the top center of the page.

This is a great resource if you are doing research on battles your Civil War ancestors participated in. Check it out at http://goo.gl/k1zRH

Namesakes and Neighbors

Here is another great Genealogy Tip of the Day from Michael John Neill. If you are looking at neighborhood, as you can with the census for instance. It might pay to look at first names of those living close to each other rather than just focusing on the last names.


The reason...wives' children may be given the same names as her parent, who may be living close by. You can read this tip in Michael's words and see a sample instance at http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com/

Peter Rabbit Lived in New Orleans in 1880

Randy Seaver did some census searching on things Easter...like what you see in the title of this post. Check out some other items he found at http://www.geneamusings.com/2011/04/happy-easter-time-to-census-whack-bit.html

Florida on Your Mind? Florida Memory Project

If you are a Floridian, especially of you have roots here, you will be interested in the Florida Memory Project at http://floridamemory.com/

This site offers a wealth of information on Florida history and its people. Photographs, videos, articles, and documents are all part of what you get...for free.

Of special interest genealogically is the online document collection. It includes Spanish Land Grants and Florida Confederate Pension Application Files...all digitized. World War I draft cards are presented also, but not the images, just the transcriptions. Finding aids are also referenced such as guides to the state archives and the state library.

This site can be a goldmine. Check it out.

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records

Every once in a while I give a not to Joe Beine and the great work he is doing by consolidating lists of various online genealogy databases. One of those lists is of online naturalization indexes and records.

Joe does a good job of keeping the list updated, and it is particularly helpful because is gives not only the link to the database, but also tells a little bit about it...such as whether it is a fee site or not.

You can check out Joe's list at http://www.germanroots.com/naturalization.html

Norther New York Historic Newspapers Online

The Northern New York Library Network provides a treasure trove of historic Northern New York newspapers on line. Fifty newspapers are represented with over 2 million images. They can be searched and the actual images are viewable.

The site is easy to use and the images are viewed in pdf format, which makes any special viewer unnecessary. If you have interest in that part of the county, you should check this out at http://news.nnyln.net/

Thanks to Dick Eastman for surfacing this site in his Online Newsletter.

Photoshop Elements Class on 25 April

At 6 pm on Monday, 25 April there will be a class/demo of using Photoshop Elements to restore old photographs at the Largo Public Library. You don't have to be an experienced Photoshop user to get something out of this session, so put it on your calendar. We hold this session occasionally and it is always fun to see what that program has to offer as well just examining old photos.

Here's the neat thing...if you have an old photo you want worked on, put it on a USB drive (jpg format is best) and bring it along.

New Class List Available at the Library

A new list of classes covering the months from May through August is now available at the Genealogy Center of the Largo Public Library. It will soon also be publised on the PGS Website calendar page.

Passport Applications Can Yield Some Unexpected Information

Michael John Neill gives some good information about passport applications in his Genealogy Tip of the Day Blog. Applications completed by women can reveal some unexpected information about male members of her family.

Check out Michael's Blog at http://goo.gl/SIeG9

More on Copyright Laws

Sharon Tate Moody, on of our frequent guest lectures at monthly meeting, has written a piece about copyright laws and how they can be overlooked. It appears in her column with TBO.com.

This topic is one that we should all keep in mind as we cruise the Internet and take advantage of the information available there. There are rules about the use of that information that we need to be aware of.

Incidentally, the speaker at our May meeting is an attorney who will address that same topic. You can see Sharon's article at http://goo.gl/t9qZ1

Consolidated list of Family Search Birth and Christening Databases

Leland Meitzler in his Genealogy Blog has consolidated for us a list of all the Family Search databases that deal with United States birth and christening records. There are 47 different databases covering 34 states.

You can see the list at FamilySearch.org, of course, but it may be helpful to see then in one consolidated list. Each of the listed databases are hot linked to the real deal at the Family Search website. Check it out at http://www.genealogyblog.com/?p=10923

FamilySearch.org Trivia

I imagine are all fans of the Family Search website and more than casual users of the date and guidance it provides. But did you know such details as: It was launched in 1999 There are over 1 billion names in its database It has around 127,000 active volunteers 186,000,000 new records were added in 2010 alone You can read these and more interesting Family Search facts at http://goo.gl/eLhxx

Keeping Track of Time--The Easy Way

Do you call fellow researchers who live in different time zones...even those in other countries? And do you get confused about what the time is where they are? The Blog Genealogy in Time has updated their handy time zone map to help you figure all that out. It is an attractive map that shows what the current time is worldwide. Take a look at it here: http://goo.gl/ksdGb

Organizing All That Paper

Randy Seaver in his Blog Genea-Musings has written an interesting article on his project to organize his paper genealogy files. It is well-written and easy to follow.

Randy's approach follows some of the guidance offered by another genealogy Blog, DearMYRTLE. He even give links to several articles dealing with organizing found on that popular Blog. This is not the only way to get organized, of course, but it may give you some ideas of your are wondering what to do with your own collection.

You can read Randy's article at http://goo.gl/i7GAh

A Census Search Tip

This comes from the Genealogy Tip of the Day website. If you are having trouble finding your ancestor in the census, consider searching using the person's middle name as the last name in your search. Sometimes people would give their names that way (for example Peter Paul Summers might state his name to the census taker as Peter Paul, or the census taker might, on his own, record it that way).

Those Pesky Julian and Gregorian Calendars

Anyone who can trace their ancestors back to the 1700s needs to understand the workings of the old Julian calendar. It is the predecessor to the modern (Gregorian) calendar that we use today. Dates recorded in the old Julian calendar are different than dates used today. Even the year end was different (25 March instead of 31 December).

The GenealogyInTime website recently published a helpful article to aid in understanding the difference between the two calendars. You can read the article at http://goo.gl/r1ysf

PGS Writing Competition Announced

Pinellas Genealogist, quarterly journal of Pinellas Genealogy Society (PGS), is accepting entries for the annual Family History Writing Competition from members and non-members of the Society. Entries should be based on the author’s research of a family history or a genealogical account of family lines and lives, discussing the steps followed and the conclusions that resulted from the research. Entries can be original, unpublished papers or published papers. If previously published, please submit permission to reprint from the original publisher along with the entry. PRIZES! PRIZES! PRIZES! First prize ----- $50 Second prize ----- $30 Third prize ----- $20 The winner will be announced in the winter issue of Pinellas Genealogist. All entries must be received no later than 31 October 2011. You can get all the contest rules at the following URL: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flpgs/quarterly/pg-writingcontest.htm