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The following are a few recommendations for inclusion on your reading list this weekend.
1. Yesterday's Friday Fotos featured two 1841 rental receipts to one of my ancestors for his rental of a pew in the Episcopal Christ Church in Lonsdale, Rhode Island. This week an interesting article in the New York Times explains why the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island is establishing a museum focused on the trans-Atlantic slave trade as part of the new center for racial reconciliation and healing to be housed at the Cathedral of St. John in Providence. More than half the slaving voyages from the U.S. left from the Rhode Island ports of Newport, Bristol, and Providence and many of the shipbuilders, financiers, and captains of those slaving voyages were Episcopalians. As a result, Rhode Island has been referred to a "the Deep North." Read more about this action by the Diocese of Rhode Island and the preeminence of Rhode Island in the slave trade here. 2. We all know how Find-A-Grave and similar sites can be very useful for obtaining genealogical information. And most of us are probably aware of, or have seen for ourselves, how many cemeteries are falling into deplorable condition. Read here about a man in Pennsylvania who took it upon himself to buy a cemetery where his ancestors and relatives are buried and the care he gives to keeping their final resting place in order.
3. Why is transcribing documents relating to your genealogy important and what can it do for your research? Read this post by Janine Adams of Organize Your Family blog to find out.
4. UpFront With NGS blog posted about a free database made available by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The database is of Historic Landmarks. Have a look here and you can get a link to the website while learning how Diane Richard found and used the database.
5. UpFront With NGS also posted a very interesting piece about genetic inheritance from ancestors. As we all know, if we look at a graphic of our family tree, it appears that we would get 50% of our genetic make-up from each of our two parents, 25% from each of our four grandparents, 12.5% from each of our eight great grandparents, etc. But, as the post points out, this is a simple math approach and genetics does not follow simple mathematics. Have a look at the post here and get a link to a Slate article titled, "Which Grandparent Are You Most Related To?" for more in-depth information on this topic.
6. As genealogy researchers, we are always on the lookout for new, untapped sources of information that could prove useful for evidence or even mere clues about influences on our ancestors and thus our genealogy. One such source could be an understanding of the business/economic booms and busts during certain periods of our nation's history. The Vault posted an interesting piece about an early 1940s infographic produced by the Tension Envelope Corporation for its customers. A large chart depicting business booms and depressions from 1775 - 1943 was folded into a pamphlet that, when opened, could be displayed on a wall. Learn more about the chart here and see an image that can be clicked on to access a large zoomable version.
7. Just this morning, James Tanner of Genealogy's Star blog posted a very informative and useful piece about the available state-by-star resources for genealogy research by location. See Mr. Tanner's helpfully illustrated post here.
8. And finally, in a related post about location-based data for genealogy research, Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings blog posted this week about finding genealogy and family history records that are not digitized. The post is Randy's useful and informative answer to a question raised at a recent meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society, "When I have exhausted available online data, how can I find out what paper or microfiche information is kept in a particular area?" Read Randy's illustrated post here.
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Copyright 2015, John D. Tew
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