RUMORED BISEXUAL MADONNA and LESBIAN ELLEN DEGENERES?
"TWILIGHT" TELEVISION VAMPIRE ROBERT PATTINSON and THE REAL COUNT DRACULA?
News stories about the genealogies of the famous can be intriguing - or simply silly. Recently a number of stories broke about these famous "cousins."
GENERALLY, you are likely related to one person in 64 that you pass by when walking down the street! More so if you and your ancestors have lived (and procreated) in the same vicinity for generations.
27 February 2011
26 February 2011
NEW DESIGN OF ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FOR LEAP YEAR
It's been a slow process but Ancestry Worship genealogy is now very close to the look we wanted. Over the next few weeks we'll also be replacing expired videos and other maintenance to the site. We appreciate any ideas you may have!
22 February 2011
50th ANNIVERSARY OF JFK and CAMELOT and A HOME VIDEO SURFACES
Today I was browsing the net looking to see if there was a genealogy of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's genealogy and of course there was! But maybe more exciting was the breaking news that a home video was donated to a museum in Dallas.
16 February 2011
POSTING FROM THE SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER LIBRARY
I seized the afternoon and went to the Simon Wiesenthal Center Library where I had a chance to do research on specific towns in Poland and look at a book of Jewish given names and the origins of each name which can be helpful if you find that someone's name is unusual and wonder from which ancestor this name is taken. From the library's Internet I rechecked information I had obtained through JewishGen and The New York Public Library. I was treated in a warm and professional manner.
One of the important programs of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is the ASK A SURVIVOR program. You see, as the years go by and we get the distance of over 50 years from World War II and the Holocaust (of course we know that other people on this earth have been and are being Holocaust besides the Jewish people and that about a third of the victims of the Holocaust were not Jewish), there are those who say "it never happened!" We know databases are imperfect for so very many reasons but hearing the stories from those who experienced the nightmare puts an end to that denial.
This program is one of several I've heard of that documents the experiences of those who lived through. It is important to not deny that humans can be horrifically cruel to other humans.
For those who have lost family to this World War II or another Holocaust, documenting and bringing the person's life back into discussion is a matter of family honor. It doesn't just honor the person(s) but the family itself, which has been fractured from the outside.
LINKING TO THE CENTER RESEARCH AREA
C Ancestry Worship Genealogy All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights
One of the important programs of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is the ASK A SURVIVOR program. You see, as the years go by and we get the distance of over 50 years from World War II and the Holocaust (of course we know that other people on this earth have been and are being Holocaust besides the Jewish people and that about a third of the victims of the Holocaust were not Jewish), there are those who say "it never happened!" We know databases are imperfect for so very many reasons but hearing the stories from those who experienced the nightmare puts an end to that denial.
This program is one of several I've heard of that documents the experiences of those who lived through. It is important to not deny that humans can be horrifically cruel to other humans.
For those who have lost family to this World War II or another Holocaust, documenting and bringing the person's life back into discussion is a matter of family honor. It doesn't just honor the person(s) but the family itself, which has been fractured from the outside.
LINKING TO THE CENTER RESEARCH AREA
C Ancestry Worship Genealogy All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights
13 February 2011
10 February 2011
EXCELLENT RESEARCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN POSTING PLEAS FOR INFORMATION OR FAMILY STORIES!
I've been researching genealogy and family history, society and culture, in one way or another for many years, well before the Internet or on line databases or research clubs, which are often organized by a locality, ethnicity, or surname.
In the first couple years in which I also implimented the Internet for my research I posted pleas for information, hoping to meet and cooperate with other researchers. It felt exciting to do so at the time.
Today I regret the postings, which did not result in any matches and are still showing on the net with, sadly, bits of misinformation because I posted based on what family was telling me hoping mutual stories would prove to be familial links.
I regret also because I've spent many useless hours reading other people's pleas to no avail AND HAVE FOUND THAT MOST POSTERS HAVE DONE LITTLE TO NO RESEARCH and ARE HOPING MEETING RELATIONS ON THE NET WILL RESULT IN HAVING SOMEONE ELSE'S HARD WON RESEARCH GIVEN TO THEM.
Today I see these chat room pleas as time wasters for another reason: because when it comes to research, you cannot depend on or accept somebody else's, especially when you will never have in person interaction with this person to know if they bring character and values into their research, or at least professional standards even if there is no financial transaction or basis. I've found errors even in the LDS submissions that members have provided the church as documentation in order to begin the process of Holy Ordinances.
You are almost always better off researching, documenting, and keeping to professional standards consistently (with always an open mind that you might be operating on assumptions based in family stories and may find error in your thinking or research at some point) then reaching out to or depending on strangers. '
Sometimes family stories are proven right, sometimes wrong. At best they are inspirational.
In the first couple years in which I also implimented the Internet for my research I posted pleas for information, hoping to meet and cooperate with other researchers. It felt exciting to do so at the time.
Today I regret the postings, which did not result in any matches and are still showing on the net with, sadly, bits of misinformation because I posted based on what family was telling me hoping mutual stories would prove to be familial links.
I regret also because I've spent many useless hours reading other people's pleas to no avail AND HAVE FOUND THAT MOST POSTERS HAVE DONE LITTLE TO NO RESEARCH and ARE HOPING MEETING RELATIONS ON THE NET WILL RESULT IN HAVING SOMEONE ELSE'S HARD WON RESEARCH GIVEN TO THEM.
Today I see these chat room pleas as time wasters for another reason: because when it comes to research, you cannot depend on or accept somebody else's, especially when you will never have in person interaction with this person to know if they bring character and values into their research, or at least professional standards even if there is no financial transaction or basis. I've found errors even in the LDS submissions that members have provided the church as documentation in order to begin the process of Holy Ordinances.
You are almost always better off researching, documenting, and keeping to professional standards consistently (with always an open mind that you might be operating on assumptions based in family stories and may find error in your thinking or research at some point) then reaching out to or depending on strangers. '
Sometimes family stories are proven right, sometimes wrong. At best they are inspirational.
29 January 2011
GERMAN RESEARCH : ELLIS ISLAND IS NOT YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR SHIP MANIFESTS
So very many Americans have GERMAN ancestry! In fact not long after the United States became a country, there was a vote between ENGLISH and GERMAN as the official language and English won out!
Using Ellis Island database we can find many ancestors who came in STEERAGE but in fact many ancestors had better tickets and don't appear on that database. Sometimes the handwriting is really bad and you must find the people who came in when they left the port instead !
So what I do is check Ellis Island database FIRST but I go further. I use Ancestry or another genealogy database to check not only who was coming in on First and Second Class tickets from German ports to New York Harbor, I ALSO CHECK the records that ORIGINATE in GERMANY! Breman - Hamburg these were DEEP WATER PORTS great for DOCKING A STEAM SHIP!
The Germans have long been excellent at keeping records. YOU MAY BE A LITTLE CHALLENGED to read the German but you may also find yourself reading early American records in GERMAN TOO!
Using Ellis Island database we can find many ancestors who came in STEERAGE but in fact many ancestors had better tickets and don't appear on that database. Sometimes the handwriting is really bad and you must find the people who came in when they left the port instead !
So what I do is check Ellis Island database FIRST but I go further. I use Ancestry or another genealogy database to check not only who was coming in on First and Second Class tickets from German ports to New York Harbor, I ALSO CHECK the records that ORIGINATE in GERMANY! Breman - Hamburg these were DEEP WATER PORTS great for DOCKING A STEAM SHIP!
The Germans have long been excellent at keeping records. YOU MAY BE A LITTLE CHALLENGED to read the German but you may also find yourself reading early American records in GERMAN TOO!
24 January 2011
20 January 2011
OLD MC CALLS MAGAZINE FROM 1976 A HISTORY LESSON AT THE AMERICAN BICENTENNIAL
1976: It was the bicentennial of the United States of America...
Recently someone gave me a McCalls Magazine from that year and it was quite the history lesson.
One of the things I noticed was the advertising. Most of the name brands that were being sold then are still being sold NOW...
The issue had a lot of focus on the changing role of women in society, on expectations about sex and marriage through American history. The article in my opinion tried to cover too much territory and the language felt stilted.
But old magazines and catalogues are useful when you attempt to situate a character in your family within their times. We are reminded that women who came of age in the 1970's were highly effected by the controversy of the woman's liberation movement, and the hopeful passage (which did not succeed) of the Equal Rights Amendment!
Recently someone gave me a McCalls Magazine from that year and it was quite the history lesson.
One of the things I noticed was the advertising. Most of the name brands that were being sold then are still being sold NOW...
The issue had a lot of focus on the changing role of women in society, on expectations about sex and marriage through American history. The article in my opinion tried to cover too much territory and the language felt stilted.
But old magazines and catalogues are useful when you attempt to situate a character in your family within their times. We are reminded that women who came of age in the 1970's were highly effected by the controversy of the woman's liberation movement, and the hopeful passage (which did not succeed) of the Equal Rights Amendment!
16 January 2011
GENEALOGY IS A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE FOR DIFFERENT PEOPLE
Genealogy is a different experience for different people:
A journey of discovery of family and self in contex, a detective hunt, a way to link to the past and learn history in a personal way that isn't what's taught in classrooms.
I feel as I find the evidence of a life in documents that I'm giving people who have passed into the next life (or maybe even reincarnated) a chance to be raised up fromn the grave to say "I Was Here, This Was My Life."
A journey of discovery of family and self in contex, a detective hunt, a way to link to the past and learn history in a personal way that isn't what's taught in classrooms.
I feel as I find the evidence of a life in documents that I'm giving people who have passed into the next life (or maybe even reincarnated) a chance to be raised up fromn the grave to say "I Was Here, This Was My Life."
11 January 2011
HISTORICAL FICTION BY LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON is a GREAT WAY TO LEARN AMERICAN HISTORY
One of the great ways to learn American (or other) history is to read FICTION that is well researched and inspired. I've been hearing great things about LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON and so I've just got two of her books "Chains" and "Forge" to read. These are part of her SEEDS OF AMERICA series which is aimed at Young Adult Readers... You don't have to be a Young Adult to enjoy these!
Angela Johnson, who is herself a three time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award says that Chains "is searing and has so many brilliant sparks I became lost in it. Isabel's harrowing journey into a nightmare realm of slavery, betrayal;, loss, and ULTIMATELY Hope quite literally had me sobbing."
Why not use these books for HOME SCHOOLING or as part of your classroom projects?
Angela Johnson, who is herself a three time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award says that Chains "is searing and has so many brilliant sparks I became lost in it. Isabel's harrowing journey into a nightmare realm of slavery, betrayal;, loss, and ULTIMATELY Hope quite literally had me sobbing."
Why not use these books for HOME SCHOOLING or as part of your classroom projects?
10 January 2011
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