Saturday Serendipity (April 15, 2017)

Here are a few recommendations for your weekend reading.

1.  If you have any roots in Rhode Island or southeast Massachusetts around Narragansett Bay, then you really should get a copy of "Between Land and Sea" by Christopher L. Pastore, Rhode Island native and Assistant Professor of History, State University of New York - Albany (Harvard University Press, 2014). Prof. Pastore covers the ecological, social, political, and cultural story of the Narragansett Bay and the push and pull among Native Americans, the settlers of Plymouth and early Massachusetts, and the settlers of Rhode Island.  It is an absorbing, informative, and at times fascinating read that reveals Narragansett Bay and the story of establishing the perimeters of the Bay as part of the demarcation of the border between colonial Rhode Island and Massachusetts -- all in only 238 pages. [1]

   

2.  Regular readers of Saturday Serendipity know what a fan I am of Diane Boumenot and her blog, One Rhode Island Family.  Just a few weeks ago I finally met Diane in person while on a genealogy trip to do some on-site research on my Rhode Island ancestors and relatives.  The occasion was an excellent presentation Diane made to the Rhode Island Genealogical Society (RIGS) at the N. Kingstown Library on creating personal genealogy books very inexpensively -- complete with samples of her own work. Two days ago Diane posted the great news that her webinar titled "Find Your Colonial Rhode Island Ancestors" will be offered for free this weekend (Fri. - Sun.) at Legacy Family Tree Webinars. AND the even more exciting news is that "[t]his summer [Diane] will have several more webinars on the site, offering tips and techniques for tracing our Rhode Island ancestors." Read more at Diane's post here. If you have Rhode Island roots, then you really should avail yourself of Diane's expertise and presentation skills. 

3.  And speaking of the N. Kingstown library (which by the way has an excellent little genealogy room on the lower floor), did you know that this week was National Library Week?  There is still time to celebrate by visiting a library as the week-long celebration ends today.  Read more about this annual week in celebration of libraries here.  The theme this year is "Libraries Transform."  As all genealogists know . . . indeed they do!   
   
4.  Two weeks and counting . . . Things at mackiev.com's Family Tree Maker laboratory must be a bustling beehive of activity. Two weeks have passed since the first announced launch date for the new and improved FTM 2017 and no general launch yet for those of us who pre-ordered, or for those wanting to begin using FTM and its new features.   Bottom line is that there is still no new release date, but the April 14th status report is detailed and and provides "AN OPTION FOR THE ANXIOUS." The latest status update from mackiev.com can be seen here.

5.  I found two items of interest posted this week at UpFront with NGS blog. One is about removing damaging fasteners from historic document.  Read "Staples -- our friend and our foe!" here. The other is about a new application on a free website called How-Old.net . The app is a tool that can help in GUESSING the age of people shown in old photographs.  Read here about the application, get links, and see the examples that Diane Richard provides from her attempts to use the website (mixed results!).                   

6.  I also found that The Weekly Genealogist of NEHGS had two items of interest this week.  The first was a fun and useful one about the most distinctive baby names for each of the past seven generations. You can read the story here.  The other item was a piece in the Cape Cod Times that interviewed NEHGS genealogist Christopher Child. The article is titled "A caveat on DNA testing firms' links to lineage" and you can read it here.    

7.  And finally, today is the 11th Blogiversary for a premier genealogy blogger (and very distant cousin) Randy Seaver. Genea-Musings is 11 years old today and that is quite an accomplishment -- especially considering how prolific Randy has been during that time! Read more about Genea-Musings and its amazing numbers, find out the original name for the blog, see a screen shot of the original blog page, and more by going here.  
    
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[1]  Thank you to Steve Booth, cousin of my daughter-in-law, who brought this book to my attention and kindly lent me his copy to read!
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Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

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