Contributed by Elizabeth Raver
This is a picture of my mother, Ilona Danko, when she was sixteen, and my grandparents, Joseph and Mary Vajko, in late 1956-57. They were Hungarian Freedom fighters during the revolution and this picture was taken in a work camp, in what used to be Yugoslavia. Thankfully, they escaped and came to America in 1958. I was the first American born in my family, on 4 July 1961. Kosonom szepen (thank you), Elizabeth Raver

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Contributed by Eloise Hudson Hunt
The attached photo is one of my father, Willie Miller Hudson, taken 25 Sept 1918 in Nancy, France, during World War I. He served as a private, U.S. Army, Company C, 508th Engineers. Born 12 Aug 1895, Newport, AR; Died 15 Sept 1962, St. Louis, MO.

I received the following press release from Wholly Genes, and after waking to yet another sub-zero morning, the Caribbean sure sounds good!

Announcing the 3rd Annual Genealogy Conference and Cruise.
The largest family history conference on the seas.

Wholly Genes, Inc., of Columbia, Maryland, is proud to announce the 2007 Genealogy Conference and Cruise, October 28-November 4, 2007.  This annual event attracts more than 400 family researchers who learn about research methods, tools, and techniques from some of the foremost experts in those fields.

This year’s conference will be held on the elegant Caribbean Princess as it cruises the Eastern Caribbean.  Between educational lectures, the group will enjoy relaxing vacations at the tropical ports of St.
Thomas, St. Maarten, and Princess Cays, Bahamas.

This conference on the sea has a reputation for hosting an all-star lineup of lecturers that rivals many national and regional conferences.  This year’s event is no exception, offering an unprecedented schedule of ten principal speakers, including some of the most prominent professional genealogists and technology experts from the United States, England, and Ireland: Continue reading →

Ancestry has sent out the following press release: 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Infamous Records Tell All – 50 Years of Hook-Ups and Break-Ups Unleashed in Ancestry.com’s Nevada Marriage & Divorce Records Collection; This Valentine’s Day – What’s Love Got to Do with It? Find Out What Really Went On…

PROVO, UTAH – February 7, 2007 – For more than 9 million people who said their ‘I do’s’ and ‘I don’ts’ in Nevada between 1956 and 2005 – the cat’s out of the bag. Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, today announced it is unleashing a unique collection of Nevada’s infamous marriage and divorce records.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the collection provides an inside look into this iconic location for marriages and divorces in the United States – from high profile hook-ups and break-ups to nuptials of the common folk. A cross-section of the collection reveals some fascinating and fun facts on getting together, splitting up and everything in between – celebrity sightings, most popular days of the week to get married, percent of marriages that take place in Nevada vs. nationwide, how many marriages take place per minute, number of divorces per capita, shortest marriages of Nevada history, repeat offenders and more.

“Only in Nevada could you find a collection that’s as enlightening as it is light-hearted, amusing and, at times, even absurd,” said Megan Smolenyak, Chief Family Historian at Ancestry.com. “Whether you’re interested in celebrity gossip, statistics on marriage, picking a date for a Vegas wedding, this collection has something for everyone whether you’re researching your family history or simply being nosy.” 

Crunching the data from the collection, Ancestry.com is launching VegasWeddingOdds.com, an online marriage-predicting site, which, based on your first name, will give you the first names of the people you’re most likely to marry in Nevada. At VegasWeddingOdds.com you will be given the Nevada odds that you will, in fact, someday wed that special someone in your life. Visit VegasWeddingOdds.com to get a glimpse of your odds in Vegas. Continue reading →

When Ancestry launched the expanded African American Collection, several of the new databases caught my interest. As someone with relatively little experience in this area, I was eager to explore them and see what I could find. Focusing on the new information, here are some of the items I found.

Freedmen’s Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1865-1872
Following the Civil War, millions of Americans were in need. 4 million former slaves were now free, and in need of a way to make a living. In March of 1865, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was formed and would become better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. According to “The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy,” (Chapter 14, African American Research, by Tony Burroughs, FUGA), “The bureau’s agents delivered medical care, rations, and transportation to destitutes and refugees–primarily white Americans. Its activities among freed people (former slaves) were varied and included drawing up and enforcing labor contracts; registering people and supervising work details; legalizing slave marriages; processing Civil War military claims; establishing schools; conducting trials for complaints, outrages, and murders; managing, leasing, and selling land abandoned by Confederates and sympathizers; and in general, presiding over Reconstruction policy.” Continue reading →