On May 1 I gave a presentation on German genealogy research, a sort of introduction to it and my experiences, including several useful sites. One attendee sent me a nice, little note the other day. Thanks for the great class regarding German history and family research ideas. . . . I must admit that your [...]
Archive for the ‘Databases’ Category
The Social Security Death Index, often abbreviated as SSDI, is a useful tool for any family historian. Unfortunately however, some feds got worked up about identity theft and control of information, and access has been restricted or removed from certain sites, including RootsWeb.1 Today though, someone posted on a mailing list a site where it remains accessible without requiring registration and [...]
As both a genetic hobbyist and one who is wary of Big Brother, I am somewhat conflicted on projects, particularly government ones, seeking people’s DNA. The latest effort, launched by the Veterans’ Administration, wants samples from one million vets. Officials overseeing health care for the nation’s veterans are undertaking what may be the largest effort of its kind in [...]
Molecular Genealogy
Posted: November 5, 2011 in Databases, Genetics, HILL, JOHNSON, JOHNSTONE, ScotlandOne of my newer hobbies is learning about human genetics. I’ve been interested ever since hearing about the Molecular Genealogy project at BYU while I was attending the National Genealogical Society’s conference in 2001. It was in Portland, not too far away from my abode at the time. The only reasons I didn’t give a [...]
I remembering reading on an ancestor’s land grant that a government office was located in Bucyrus, Ohio. Seeing a link to the Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum brought back some memories of a great website. It’s free and operated by the BLM, the Bureau of Land Management. It was known as the General Land Office (GLO). As the successor agency to [...]
While sorting through a few older email messages today I came across this one from July 2008. I sent a note to some relatives asking that they consider giving DNA samples for study. At the time there was no charge. Now, unfortunately, the project is no longer accepting samples from the public. Thankfully I did [...]
WWI Military Cablegrams
Posted: August 18, 2011 in Collections, Databases, United States, World War IA database of World War I military cablegrams “exchanged between the General Headquarters, American Expeditionary Forces (abbreviated here as AEF HQ) and the War Department during World War I” are online at Fold3, a rebranding of the historical doc site Footnote.com. These are file copies from the Cable Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, arranged [...]
Playing Around with Wolfram|Alpha
Posted: August 5, 2011 in BOAL, Databases, FROMKE, HAY, HILL, Iowa, LENTZ, Search Engines, South Dakota, VAN NOTETags: search engines, surnames
When I first heard of Wolfram|Alpha, in a news story, the search engine tool sounded pretty cool. And it is. For some reason I don’t recall, I found myself at the site and decided to experiment with various keywords to see what results were returned. There may have been a link to something in one [...]
Yesterday while at the library I noticed a poster advertising a presentation by Jason Stone from the University of Oregon. A group at the university, and others, have been digitizing old newspapers. The project is called Historic Oregon Newspapers. It’s part of the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program. There are many newspapers included, spanning several years, [...]
I wish more communities followed the example of Brantford, Ontario, Canada. The local library is building a searchable digital archive. Reminds me of a book I used to own, Nearby History. The book has some good advice on how to go about doing local history. AJH
