As you may know, I find reincarnation fascinating and tend to be a believer.
Using genealogy to help a person find themselves in a past life is even more intriguing.
This has to be one of the most interesting sites I've found on the net since I began this blog... check it out!
15 May 2010
11 May 2010
ARE YOU PART NEATHDERTHAL? GENES MAY SAY YEA
RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer : Between 1 percent and 4 percent of genes in people from Europe and Asia trace back to Neanderthals."
Click on the link above to get to the full story!
Click on the link above to get to the full story!
10 May 2010
MOTHERS DAY - YOUR MATRIARCHAL LINE
EVERY ONE OF US HAS HAD A MOTHER and FATHER, and some of us are lucky enough to still have them in this life. Tracing the female ancestors can be a challenge... a feminist challenge. Our mothers and matriarchs do not appear in records as often as our fathers and patriarchs. Make a special effort to celebrate the women in your life today. ARE YOU FOLLOWING THE MATRIARCHAL LINES in your family charts?
08 May 2010
CHILDRENS GIVEN NAMES ARE GETTING MORE BIZARRE
CLAIRE SUDDATH of Yahoo News reports that the Social Security Administration has released the top baby names for 2009 were Isabella and Jacob but are people naming their babies after vampires?
"Cullen is also part of a larger trend: two-syllable male names that end in the sound en. Aiden is another example (12th most popular name). So is Jayden (No. 8), Logan (No. 17), Nathan (No. 24), Kevin (No. 44), Justin (No. 46) and a name I'd never heard of before: Brayden. At No. 47, it means I'll probably start meeting a number of Braydens in about 20 years. Likewise, nearly half of the 50 most popular girl names end in the letter a, like Isabella. Why does this happen? Why do parents so often choose the same names for their newborns?" .
Read more about the TWILIGHT EFFECT!
"Cullen is also part of a larger trend: two-syllable male names that end in the sound en. Aiden is another example (12th most popular name). So is Jayden (No. 8), Logan (No. 17), Nathan (No. 24), Kevin (No. 44), Justin (No. 46) and a name I'd never heard of before: Brayden. At No. 47, it means I'll probably start meeting a number of Braydens in about 20 years. Likewise, nearly half of the 50 most popular girl names end in the letter a, like Isabella. Why does this happen? Why do parents so often choose the same names for their newborns?" .
Read more about the TWILIGHT EFFECT!
05 May 2010
ELLIS ISLAND GETS UNFAIRLY BLAMED FOR NAME CHANGES
In my experience, the often repeated idea that the authorities at ELLIS ISLAND, the dropping off point for STEERAGE PASSENGERS in the port of New York for a long period during the industrial boom, CHANGED THE NAMES of those coming through is completely false.
MAYBE SOME ANCESTOR used this as an EXCUSE for their own decision to change their name. However this was absolutely not within the authority or practice of those harried clerks, most English speaking only, maybe some who knew German, who had a huge number of people to process.
On most ship manifests I've read I see that immigrants were often counted by ethnicity. That is to say, you see Poles with Poles and Hungarians with Hungarians, and Jews with Jews, per CLASS of ticket.
Having used both microfilms and databases I have read a lot of BAD HANDWRITING (which then gets transferred at the typists best guess into databases) and a lot of names that were given a phonetic spelling. I've found the same passenger's name spelled one way on the HAMBURG lists (the departure point of many steamships) and another on the manifests coming into New York. READING BOTH is a good idea.
I believe that mistakes were made with misunderstandings due to not knowing the language spoken or out of hurry and exhaustion. Further, I have seen these same kind of mistakes on census where certain assumptions were also made. For instance a child might be listed as "SARAH" because a parent called her "SALLY" when her real name is something else.
Given documentation and over time, the family always seems to revert to the given name, or is in agreement about a spelling or name change. The exception to this truism - and every case is different - is in African American familys shortly after slavery.
C Ancestry Worship Genealogy All Rights including Internet and International Rights reserved. Please e-mail me or leave contact information on Comments for permissions prior to use.
MAYBE SOME ANCESTOR used this as an EXCUSE for their own decision to change their name. However this was absolutely not within the authority or practice of those harried clerks, most English speaking only, maybe some who knew German, who had a huge number of people to process.
On most ship manifests I've read I see that immigrants were often counted by ethnicity. That is to say, you see Poles with Poles and Hungarians with Hungarians, and Jews with Jews, per CLASS of ticket.
Having used both microfilms and databases I have read a lot of BAD HANDWRITING (which then gets transferred at the typists best guess into databases) and a lot of names that were given a phonetic spelling. I've found the same passenger's name spelled one way on the HAMBURG lists (the departure point of many steamships) and another on the manifests coming into New York. READING BOTH is a good idea.
I believe that mistakes were made with misunderstandings due to not knowing the language spoken or out of hurry and exhaustion. Further, I have seen these same kind of mistakes on census where certain assumptions were also made. For instance a child might be listed as "SARAH" because a parent called her "SALLY" when her real name is something else.
Given documentation and over time, the family always seems to revert to the given name, or is in agreement about a spelling or name change. The exception to this truism - and every case is different - is in African American familys shortly after slavery.
C Ancestry Worship Genealogy All Rights including Internet and International Rights reserved. Please e-mail me or leave contact information on Comments for permissions prior to use.
04 May 2010
BOOK EXCERPT: MAYFLOWER by NATHANIEL PHILBRICK
MAYFLOWER
A Story of Courage, Community, and War
Viking Press
C 2006 Nathaniel Philbrick
Massasoit was a local Native American leader. In this scene of the book he is dying. Edward Winslow visits him...
pages 144 145
"Winslow began to examine the interior of the sachem's mouth. it was "exceedingly furred," and his tongue was so swollen that it was little wonder he had been unable to eat anything. After scraping the "Corruption" from his mouth and tongue, Winslow fed him more of the preserves.
"Massasoit may have been suffering from typhus, probably brought to the village by the recently departed Dutch traders. Spread by infected lice, typhus was known as "pestilential fever" in the seventeenth century and was most common in winder and spring. Typhus thrived In the crowded, unsanitary conditions typical of an Indian or, for that matter, English village of the time, and there were also several other Pokanokets (the tribe of Massosoit) suffering from the same disease. According to a modern description of typhus, symptoms include "fever and chills, vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, muscle ache and delirium or stupor. The tongue is first coated with a white fur, which then turns brown. The body develops small red eruptions which may belled." In severe cases, the morality rate can reach 70 percent."
Winslow fed him fruit preserves and this lead to Massasoit's recovery!
A Story of Courage, Community, and War
Viking Press
C 2006 Nathaniel Philbrick
Massasoit was a local Native American leader. In this scene of the book he is dying. Edward Winslow visits him...
pages 144 145
"Winslow began to examine the interior of the sachem's mouth. it was "exceedingly furred," and his tongue was so swollen that it was little wonder he had been unable to eat anything. After scraping the "Corruption" from his mouth and tongue, Winslow fed him more of the preserves.
"Massasoit may have been suffering from typhus, probably brought to the village by the recently departed Dutch traders. Spread by infected lice, typhus was known as "pestilential fever" in the seventeenth century and was most common in winder and spring. Typhus thrived In the crowded, unsanitary conditions typical of an Indian or, for that matter, English village of the time, and there were also several other Pokanokets (the tribe of Massosoit) suffering from the same disease. According to a modern description of typhus, symptoms include "fever and chills, vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, muscle ache and delirium or stupor. The tongue is first coated with a white fur, which then turns brown. The body develops small red eruptions which may belled." In severe cases, the morality rate can reach 70 percent."
Winslow fed him fruit preserves and this lead to Massasoit's recovery!
01 May 2010
ANCESTORS SPEAK ONCE AGAIN - ESPECIALLY THE WOMEN
One of the reasons I LOVE GENEALOGY is that it feels to me like the ancestors get to speak again, telling the story of their lives one more time. AND I THINK FOR MANY OF THEM IT IS THE FIRST TIME ANYONE IS REALLY LISTENING!
Yes, I SAID THAT!
Truly, in this life how often is it that someone who you never met before is all that interested in hearing about your "life history"? In fact we make snide remarks at times when someone goes on "too long" ; "thank you for sharing!" (I hate that!)
For our FEMALE ancestors, until fairly recently in Western culture, there were social and cultural reasons why they did not discuss their thoughts, feelings, or tell about their lives while they were living it.
For many women of the past, speaking up or out was considered not to be feminine. They were to keep to their position and place in life, vote the way their husband voted (if they could vote at all), get along in a group but not stand out. A woman was supposed to be shy and soft spoken and some of them did an awfully good job of being self effacing!
As some of you know, tracing FEMALE ANCESTORS is MORE DIFFICULT than tracing MALE. There are so many reasons for this, from baptismal records that don't list the mother's name at all or don't list her maiden name, to not being able to find school or military records for those who never went to school or into the military.
Yes, I SAID THAT!
Truly, in this life how often is it that someone who you never met before is all that interested in hearing about your "life history"? In fact we make snide remarks at times when someone goes on "too long" ; "thank you for sharing!" (I hate that!)
For our FEMALE ancestors, until fairly recently in Western culture, there were social and cultural reasons why they did not discuss their thoughts, feelings, or tell about their lives while they were living it.
For many women of the past, speaking up or out was considered not to be feminine. They were to keep to their position and place in life, vote the way their husband voted (if they could vote at all), get along in a group but not stand out. A woman was supposed to be shy and soft spoken and some of them did an awfully good job of being self effacing!
As some of you know, tracing FEMALE ANCESTORS is MORE DIFFICULT than tracing MALE. There are so many reasons for this, from baptismal records that don't list the mother's name at all or don't list her maiden name, to not being able to find school or military records for those who never went to school or into the military.
15 April 2010
ELLIS ISLAND FREE DATABASE in NEED OF FUNDS
Recently ELLIS ISLAND contacted me to ask for a donation so that the database, which is free on the Internet, can remain a free service.
I remember how thrilled people were to use that database! One day it was up, and for the next week or two it was so jammed up, it was difficult to get in.
It was my understanding that ELLIS ISLAND was begun as a volunteer project and I never imagined that it would become a pay for play database.
Like any good database it helped thousands of people interested in learning about their immigrant ancestors.
However, many people did not find their ancestors on Ellis Island because they did not realize that this database focuses of those who CAME IN STEERAGE. If a person was on a better ticket, then they got off at CASTLE ROCK.
Above is the link to the free database.
I remember how thrilled people were to use that database! One day it was up, and for the next week or two it was so jammed up, it was difficult to get in.
It was my understanding that ELLIS ISLAND was begun as a volunteer project and I never imagined that it would become a pay for play database.
Like any good database it helped thousands of people interested in learning about their immigrant ancestors.
However, many people did not find their ancestors on Ellis Island because they did not realize that this database focuses of those who CAME IN STEERAGE. If a person was on a better ticket, then they got off at CASTLE ROCK.
Above is the link to the free database.
12 April 2010
TRAGIC : POLISH PRESIDENT and DIGNITARIES KILLED IN PLANE CRASH ON WAY TO SITE OF UNMARKED GRAVES
For some of us who have roots in Eastern Europe, the recent plane crash that astonishingly resulted in the death of the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and leading dignitaries, to the site of unmarked graves of Poles, killed and deposited there in 1940, will bring up the stories that our ancestors told us about life in the Old Country. "Katyn" is a place in the Russian forest where there are unmarked graves - about 20,000 people are in those graves, many intelligencia, priests, doctors, writers and artists.
IT HAS BEEN A STRUGGLE TO GET THE RUSSIANS TO OPEN THEIR FILES ON THE PRISONERS... Perhaps this is where some GENEALOGY ACTIVISM is required!?
Some of these prisoners are OUR ANCESTORS!
Let me say that about a year ago I discovered that a few persons with a surname in my family had been taken to Siberia... Now, I do not know who these persons are or how or if they are related to me, but possibly this ties in with the story I was told about the Russian soldiers taking my grandfather's brother away... A snippet of family story that I was too young to ask my grandfather more questions about.
Attaching to a Seattle Times article by Associated Press Writer
"Killed with President Lech Kaczynski in the plane crash near Smolensk, western Russia, were his wife, Maria Kaczynska, his closest aides, lawmakers, army commanders, church figures, historic figures, plane crew and relatives of the victims of the 1940 massacre of Polish officers in Katyn and in other places. They had been traveling to Katyn to mark the 70th anniversary.
The Soviet secret police killed thousands of Polish military leaders and intellectuals at Katyn and other places at the start of World War II. It was part of a strategy to subdue the country, whose eastern half it occupied starting in 1939, and better control it..." Minika Scislowska
IT HAS BEEN A STRUGGLE TO GET THE RUSSIANS TO OPEN THEIR FILES ON THE PRISONERS... Perhaps this is where some GENEALOGY ACTIVISM is required!?
Some of these prisoners are OUR ANCESTORS!
Let me say that about a year ago I discovered that a few persons with a surname in my family had been taken to Siberia... Now, I do not know who these persons are or how or if they are related to me, but possibly this ties in with the story I was told about the Russian soldiers taking my grandfather's brother away... A snippet of family story that I was too young to ask my grandfather more questions about.
Attaching to a Seattle Times article by Associated Press Writer
"Killed with President Lech Kaczynski in the plane crash near Smolensk, western Russia, were his wife, Maria Kaczynska, his closest aides, lawmakers, army commanders, church figures, historic figures, plane crew and relatives of the victims of the 1940 massacre of Polish officers in Katyn and in other places. They had been traveling to Katyn to mark the 70th anniversary.
The Soviet secret police killed thousands of Polish military leaders and intellectuals at Katyn and other places at the start of World War II. It was part of a strategy to subdue the country, whose eastern half it occupied starting in 1939, and better control it..." Minika Scislowska
08 April 2010
SOME GOOD REASONS TO HIRE A PROFESSIONAL by Christine of ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY
1) WHEN YOU ARE INTERESTED IN YOUR ANCESTRY but YOU have no time, ability, or interest in researching yourself.
2) WHEN you want the research to hold up through documentation ("Proofed"), especially for submission as evidence for entitlement to certain societies (D.A.R or S.A.R. for instance), scholarships, tribal benefits, etc.
3) WHEN you want research that you, a relative, or someone else conducted, to be double checked.
4) WHEN you find yourself stuck in your personal research. (Maybe you need a little advice on where to find resources.)
5) WHEN the research needs to hold up in court (for immigration/INS, wills/inheritance, etc.)
6) WHEN someone approaches you claiming to be related and you are not sure of them. (I've actually met someone quite wealthy that this happened to. Sometimes long lost relatives really are related, sometimes this is someone who is only in touch because they want money...)
7) WHEN someone is making a claim to be a son or daughter or when you wish to find a birth child or birth parent. (Some times genealogy is not necessary in these cases, but will achieve or help to achieve documentation and current location. I highly recommend DNA testing as well.)
C 2010 Ancestry Worship Genealogy All Rights Including Internet and International Rights Reserved.
2) WHEN you want the research to hold up through documentation ("Proofed"), especially for submission as evidence for entitlement to certain societies (D.A.R or S.A.R. for instance), scholarships, tribal benefits, etc.
3) WHEN you want research that you, a relative, or someone else conducted, to be double checked.
4) WHEN you find yourself stuck in your personal research. (Maybe you need a little advice on where to find resources.)
5) WHEN the research needs to hold up in court (for immigration/INS, wills/inheritance, etc.)
6) WHEN someone approaches you claiming to be related and you are not sure of them. (I've actually met someone quite wealthy that this happened to. Sometimes long lost relatives really are related, sometimes this is someone who is only in touch because they want money...)
7) WHEN someone is making a claim to be a son or daughter or when you wish to find a birth child or birth parent. (Some times genealogy is not necessary in these cases, but will achieve or help to achieve documentation and current location. I highly recommend DNA testing as well.)
C 2010 Ancestry Worship Genealogy All Rights Including Internet and International Rights Reserved.
01 April 2010
A 1940 TRANSCRIPTION PROJECT YOU MAY WISH TO JOIN (ED)
UPDATE APRIL 2012 by Ancestry Worship Genealogy
I've provided links to the National Archives 1940 information and to the ED converter utility to the left sidebar - top of this blog. I attended a lecture by Steve Morse at Latter Day Saints Family History Library in Los Angeles recently. It was a fun lecture, tracing the addresses of famous cartoon characters such as Donald Duck.
If you will go to this ED converter site and follow the links you will find the names of volunteers who have transcribed ED districts and the various cities, large and small, in the United States that are already done. You'll see what needs to be done.
I've spend the last week getting into these sites and using them, or trying to. I'm one of the millions who crashed the National Archives site last Monday within hours after the grand opening. What has happened is that a third party contractor has been hired to provide additional servers for the traffic. As a result the images are not showing as was planned. The original idea was to get to a ED and see a row of small page icons to click one after another. As the site is functioning at this time, you will click page by page. (Try using the ZOOM function on your computer to reduce these to cut on how much mouse you have to use.)
I had 1930 addresses as well as 1940ish addresses for seven families which I used the converter on. Sadly, not one of these addresses was wrong, but the ED districts that the addresses brought up on the converter were not right. In one case one ED district was brought up but I read seven ED's till I found the family. In two other cases the ED converter did not reduce the number of films much because the street name ran through a few districts, meaning that the street is being read but probably not the house number. YES USING THE MAP and introducing the cross street names narrowed it some, but not much!
PLEASE NOTE THAT IN ABOUT A WEEK I'LL BE POSTING ON ALTERNATIVES FOR FINDING ANCESTORS ON THE 1940.
OLDER POSTS BELOW:
STEVE MORSE has announced a 1940 CENSUS transcription project which you may wish to join.
Let me tell you this... Morse has been an innovator in helping us get into and around the ELLIS ISLAND database. I heard him speak a few years ago and he's probably a genius with a few cohorts who are genius's too. More than anything this is going to take a lot of work and cooperation!
You may already know that we cannot legally see the 1940 until April 1, 2012 but that doesn't mean it will be TRANSCRIBED... and because of the burgeoning population counted yes I AM saying it could be 2015 before you can use it... unless of course you are part of a project in which your transcription work makes your towns of interest available to other genealogists!check this out NOW!
PS : JUST HEARD FROM STEVE (and PARTNER JOEL) HIMSELF! READ STEVE'S COMMENT BELOW!
(The project is not per surname!)
I've provided links to the National Archives 1940 information and to the ED converter utility to the left sidebar - top of this blog. I attended a lecture by Steve Morse at Latter Day Saints Family History Library in Los Angeles recently. It was a fun lecture, tracing the addresses of famous cartoon characters such as Donald Duck.
If you will go to this ED converter site and follow the links you will find the names of volunteers who have transcribed ED districts and the various cities, large and small, in the United States that are already done. You'll see what needs to be done.
I've spend the last week getting into these sites and using them, or trying to. I'm one of the millions who crashed the National Archives site last Monday within hours after the grand opening. What has happened is that a third party contractor has been hired to provide additional servers for the traffic. As a result the images are not showing as was planned. The original idea was to get to a ED and see a row of small page icons to click one after another. As the site is functioning at this time, you will click page by page. (Try using the ZOOM function on your computer to reduce these to cut on how much mouse you have to use.)
I had 1930 addresses as well as 1940ish addresses for seven families which I used the converter on. Sadly, not one of these addresses was wrong, but the ED districts that the addresses brought up on the converter were not right. In one case one ED district was brought up but I read seven ED's till I found the family. In two other cases the ED converter did not reduce the number of films much because the street name ran through a few districts, meaning that the street is being read but probably not the house number. YES USING THE MAP and introducing the cross street names narrowed it some, but not much!
PLEASE NOTE THAT IN ABOUT A WEEK I'LL BE POSTING ON ALTERNATIVES FOR FINDING ANCESTORS ON THE 1940.
OLDER POSTS BELOW:
STEVE MORSE has announced a 1940 CENSUS transcription project which you may wish to join.
Let me tell you this... Morse has been an innovator in helping us get into and around the ELLIS ISLAND database. I heard him speak a few years ago and he's probably a genius with a few cohorts who are genius's too. More than anything this is going to take a lot of work and cooperation!
You may already know that we cannot legally see the 1940 until April 1, 2012 but that doesn't mean it will be TRANSCRIBED... and because of the burgeoning population counted yes I AM saying it could be 2015 before you can use it... unless of course you are part of a project in which your transcription work makes your towns of interest available to other genealogists!check this out NOW!
PS : JUST HEARD FROM STEVE (and PARTNER JOEL) HIMSELF! READ STEVE'S COMMENT BELOW!
(The project is not per surname!)
Was there a PRANKSTER in YOUR FAMILY? APRIL FOOLS has BEEN CELEBRATED FOR 500 YEARS
..."By the mid-17th century, the April Fools' prank parade had spread throughout much of Europe under the name "All Fools' Day." It developed into a day on which friends tried to trick each other into running silly errands in search of nonexistent objects, such as pigeon's milk. One of the most infamous early widespread reports of the practice was from the April 2, 1698, edition of the British newspaper Dawks' News-Letter, which reported on a group of people who went to the Tower of London to see a nonexistent ceremonial washing of the lions, a joke repeated annually for centuries to come. "
LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE NOW!
LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE NOW!
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