Friday Finds – 07/29/11

Weekly column sharing genealogy-related things that I’ve learned or found.

Online Articles/Posts

• Exec. Director of National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Md. is Myth-buster, Works on Shows
• Help Needed to Return WW2 Dog Tag to Soldier's Descendants
• Genealogists Track Down Missing Links in Family Histories:  Historical Detectives at Work at Galesburg Library
• Terrebonne Resident Digs for Native American Roots
• Daughters of the American Revolution Challenged by Bates Family of Virginia
• Locals Catch Genealogy Bug
• Spoon River College Outreach Center Offers New Series of Genealogy Classes

New-to-Me Blogs

• Stardust’n’Roots
• Family Cherished
• Marian’s Roots & Rambles
• Empty Nest Genealogy
• Just Folks
• Our Family:  Brick Walls
• Reflections

Print Articles

• “A Key to Success:  Your Online Presence,” written by D. Joshua Taylor, available in the June 2011 issue of the APG Quarterly
• “Tracking Irish Generations in Land Valuation Records,” written by Richard M. Doherty, available in the July/Aug/Sept 2005 issue of NGS NewsMagazine
• “Researching Your Freemason Ancestor,” written by Kathryn Parker, available in the Oct/Nov/Dec 2005 issue of NGS NewsMagazine

Websites

• Mocavo (even thought I’ve only had time to do a few quick searches, I’m pretty impressed with the genealogy-specific search engine)
• Canadian County Atlas Digital Project
• Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants

GenBlog’s Turns Three Today!

Today is GenBlog’s third birthday! 

Thanks to all my readers for continuing to follow this blog and giving advice when needed. 
And thanks to all geneabloggers who make genealogy blogging a fun and worthwhile endeavor.

My New Blog

So I finally broke down and decided to create a new blog in conjunction with my genealogy business.  The blog is called Writing Your Way to the Past and will feature posts that discuss news about my business and genealogy, research tips, and writing ideas.  There are also some static pages that contain information about my experience and service.  Check it out!

FGS 2011 Conference – Let the Countdown Begin

I’m very excited!  As I write this post, the FGS 2011 Conference is 50 days away.  In a way, it seems a little far off, but when you’ve been working on the conference behind the scenes for over a year, 50 days is actually not too far away.

FGS 2011 Conference

50	:	3	:	32	:	11
days		hours		min		sec

I look forward to my first national genealogy conference.  There are many learning opportunities I am excited about, including:

• Overlooked War of 1812 Records in the National Archives, presented by Marie Varrelman Melchiori
• Going Beyond the Bare Bones: Reconstructing Your Ancestors’ Lives, presented by Thomas Jones
• Researching Your Indian War Ancestor Before the Civil War, presented by Craig Scott
• Avoiding Pitfalls in New England Research, presented by Rhonda McClure
• Land, Tax, and Court Records: Used Together Enhance Genealogical Data, presented by Wendy Bebout Elliott
• Michigan Roots: Genealogy Research in the Wolverine State, presented by Kris Rzepczynski
• The Genealogical Proof Standard: What It Is and What It Is Not, presented by Thomas Jones

There’s still plenty of time to register.  Check out the FGS 2011 Conference website to learn more about the conference, sessions, presenters, special events, and register online.

Hope to see you there!

SNGF - “Heritage Pie” Chart

This week’s challenge from Randy is:

• List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places). 
• Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death.
• For extra credit, go make a "Heritage Pie" chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the  chart generator from Kid Zone for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the "Heritage Pie" chart idea.]
• Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or google+.

Here’s mine:

 

16.  Thomas CAHILL - bap. 8 May 1860 in Thomastown, Kilkenny, Ireland; died 15 October 1929 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois; married Margareth MILLETT, 3 July 1887 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois.

17.  Margareth “Maggie” MILLETT – bap. 3 February 1863 in Old Grange, Kilkenny, Ireland; died 7 January 1945 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois.

18.  John SCHWARTZ – born 11 Arpil 1856 (cal.) in Luxembourg; died 20 January 1912 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois; married Margaretha KRAMER, 6 September 1888 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois.

19.  Margaretha “Margaret” KRAMER – born 31 October 1866 in Consdorf, Echternach, Luxembourg; died 14 January 1945 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois.

20.  Timothy McMAHON – born 14 May 1874 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois; died 14 October 1939 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois; married Sarah Jane WARD, 11 November 1899 in Lake County, Indiana.

21.  Sarah Jane WARD – born 7 April 1875 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois; died 8 October 1956 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

22.  James Manly GARRISON – born 26 December 1861 in Picton, Prince Edward, Ontario, Canada; died 23 May 1909 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois; married, Sarah Jane MULLIGAN, 23 January 1893 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

23.  Sarah Jane “Jennie” MULLIGAN – born 16 April 1870 in Flint, Genesee, Michigan; died 26 April 1947 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

24.  Emil MILLER – born January 1864 in Germany; died after 1902, probably in Chicago, Cook, Illinois; married Hulda WACH, 8 August 1886 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

25.  Hulda WACH – born 9 January 1869 in Germany; died probably between 1910 and 1920 in McHenry County, Illinois.

26.  Herman LEPPIN – born 22 March 1873 in Germany; died 31 March 1948 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona; married Minnie HEMFLER, 26 March 1894 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

27.  Minnie HEMFLER – born 9 April 1871 in Germany; died 17 May 1945 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

28.  Philip ROTTMAN – born about 1835 in Bavaria, Germany; died between 1885 and 1889, probably in Linn Couny, Iowa; married Mary Eva REEDER before 1870, possible in France.

29.  Mary Eva REEDER – born 18 March 1849 (cal.) in France; died 26 October 1889 in Iowa.

30.  Carl “Charles” STOFFEL – born 16 September 1855 in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany; died 8 November 1902 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois; married Mary BRAUN, about 1884.

31.  Mary BRAUN – born 19 November 1855 in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany; died 9 August 1936 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

Unclaimed Persons Has Moved

The Unclaimed Persons project, which helps find next of kin for the deceased, has move to a new home at http://www.unclaimed-persons.org/forums.  Even if you were a member of the group on Facebook, you will need to register at the new site.

The new site, which is structured like a message board, went live yesterday and it appears all of the active and pending cases have been transferred from Facebook.  Just taking a quick look at the new site shows me that it is going to be much easier to work with and manage.  Cases are contained in separate boards: open cases, pending cases, and close cases.  And it looks like cases can easily be moved to a different board when the status of the case changes.

I’m excited for the new site and hope I can help out again in the future.  Unfortunately, right now, there are just not enough hours in the day.  I do, however, applaud all of the volunteers and the hard work they do; it’s such a worthy cause.

To learn more about Unclaimed Persons, click here.