The National Trust for Historic Preservation is once again commemorating National Historic Preservation Month in May. This year’s theme is “This Place Matters.”

I liked the theme, so I googled that phrase to see if there were a lot of events planned. I did run across several, and was also rewarded with a really neat website. While it doesn’t appear to be affiliated with Preservation Month, it certainly captures the spirit.

The site focuses on New York city and is called “Place Matters: A Census of Places that Matter.” Visitors can nominate a place and share their stories about it. Photos are available for some of the places, and some have multiple reviews and stories attached to them. Places covered range from St. Patrick’s Cathedral to a corner diner in Brooklyn to the Battle of Brooklyn burial site (which is sadly only marked by a plaque on the side of a building).

The site requires a free Adobe flash download. The list is searchable and you can filter by borough and neighborhood. Plus, there are several featured searches that will give highlights (e.g., Highlights in Central Brooklyn, The Revolutionary War in NYC, Place that Matters of the Week, etc.).

I spent a while browsing through and if you have roots in New York City, I highly recommend giving it a peek. Click here to access Place Matters: The Census of Places that Matter.

Click here to learn more about National Preservation Month in May and what you can do.

I just happened across an interesting CNN article that says that genetic studies have revealed that humans were nearly extinct some 70,000 years ago. Following a drought, numbers dwindled to an estimated 2,000 beings.  You can read the entire article at CNN.com.

WESTMINSTER, Colo., April 21 – The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) will conduct a roundtable on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 during the National Genealogical Society Conference at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri.  The topic of the roundtable, which will be moderated by David Rencher, CG, is Into the Future with the Records Preservation and Access Committee. The roundtable will be held from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm in the Chouteau A&B rooms.

Beverly Rice, CG, Roundtable Coordinator, encourages members to attend saying, “This is an opportunity for all conference attendees to become aware of our genealogy communities’ combined efforts to maintain access and preserve the world’s records.  The topic of records preservation and access is of such importance to the genealogical community that APG has opened this roundtable to all interested individuals.”

The roundtable is normally open only to APG members; however, because of the importance of the topic all genealogists and interested parties are invited. In addition, the roundtable is an ideal time for APG members to network, share ideas and learn how other professionals market themselves.  Continue reading →

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”
~ Abraham Lincoln

Posted This Week

• British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920
  (Update adding est. 500,000 records)
• Drouin Collection (French-Canadian) 
• Passengers Who Arrived in the U.S., September 1821-December 1823 
  View a list of all new and updated databases 
• Learn more about what’s new at Ancestry.com 
• Search the Ancestry.com Card Catalog

As keeper of the family history, you probably have some family heirlooms scattered around your house. Have you ever taken the time to note their significance? Why not create your own catalog, complete with digital photographs. Tell who the original owner was, whether it was a gift on a special occasion, and any story about the item? You will be helping to ensure that the item doesn’t end up on a flea market table once you’re gone, and you can also store a copy of your catalog off-site for insurance purposes.

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April is National Volunteer Month, and 27 through April 3 May is National Volunteer Week in both the U.S. and Canada. This month is a perfect time to think about something we can do.

The Genealogy Connection
In March I wrote about April being Volunteer Month and included some ideas for volunteering in the areas of history and genealogy. Readers were asked to share their efforts. You really responded. Here are a few examples from that correspondence:

~ Norma Nyberg of Columbia, Missouri, who calls herself a proud member of the Genealogical Society of Central Missouri, recently completed copying and typing the biographical sketches in the 1882 “History of Boone County, Missouri,” so they could be uploaded onto the society’s website. This history is still available for purchase from the local historical society.
 
~ Eva Burns Bachman of Lincoln, Nebraska, wrote that she is volunteering for the Nebraska State Historical Society in their Library/Archives room assisting researchers. She is also updating the Community of Christ, Lincoln Congregation, “Memory Book” by researching obituaries and family stories about members who have passed away in the last ten years. She is researching and documenting those buried in the Morelock Cemetery in Morrow Township, Adair County, Missouri, and in the Old Germfask/Ackley Cemetery in Germfask Township, Schoolcraft County, Michigan, as well as assisting the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society with publications and meetings. Continue reading →

We could all spend an interesting and distracting week discussing everything that can keep a person from a family history project–ironically something they’ve always wanted to do.

Anything can stop a person. I’m not talking about excuses–I’m talking about things as real as today and today’s errands. Maybe the dog ate the genealogy chart. Or maybe there are rotten apples on your family tree.

There is no one around to ask, you say. My stories aren’t interesting to tell. It’s such a huge process–unfathomable, really. I don’t know where to begin.

That’s the magic word. Begin. Nothing feels better than finally beginning. The beauty part? You can get off your own back now. You’ve begun! The joy flows from there step-by-step, one memory at a time. And then you’ll become addicted, because you’ll never want to stop.

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Google Addresses for Images
I would recommend searching for every ancestral address and company you come across using Google. You could find that there are photos online. I have found numerous photos of the churches my ancestors got married in or were christened in by doing this.

Sometimes you can even find photos of the houses in which they lived. To my surprise I found the farmhouse where my grandfather was born by using Google. Grander than I imagined, it is now a school. I e-mailed the school and they sent me a leaflet with photos of the original house.
 
Also search for places where your ancestors worked. You can often find out more about the companies or government branch your ancestors worked in, and may find photos. For instance, my grandmother told me that she had been an “overlooker” at Woolwich Arsenal during the First World War. Both her father and grandfather had also worked there. I searched for Woolwich Arsenal using Google and found pages and pages of information and photos about it. I found out that women worked there during the First World War because the men had all been called up. The girls who did this work were called “Canaries” because working with TNT turned their skin yellow. And there were photos showing the Cartridge Packing Shop where my grandmother worked, as well as the laboratory where my grandfather worked.
 
Another way you can obtain photos of locations you are researching is by joining a RootsWeb county mailing list for the county your ancestors lived in. Ask if anyone who lives in the area is willing to take a photo for you and e-mail it to you. One very kind man took about half a dozen photos for me because someone had once done it for him.
 
Or you could try writing to the addresses directly if they still exist, asking if the occupants could send you a photo of their house. They might be more interested if you sent them a photo of your ancestor who lived there or a copy of a census showing the address with the names of the people who lived there. Of course always offer to pay for their expenses.

Regards,
Frances Lee Continue reading →