Happy Independence Day to all! On this 194th anniversary of the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams within hours of one another fifty years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was formally adopted, here are just a few recommended reads as we all (hopefully) do our best to avoid crowds and responsibly look out for each other.
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Skydiver dropping into the opening ceremony of the 2010 Boy Scout
National Jamboree, Ft. A.P. Hill, VA. |
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| A better idea of the scale of the flag. |
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| Chimney Rock outside Asheville, NC (Oct. 2012) |
1. To begin with, The Weekly Genealogist of NEHGS/American Ancestors linked to an interesting piece titled "10 Things You Didn't Know About the Fourth of July." You can read the article here. Do any readers eat salmon with green peas on the 4th of July as a long standing tradition??
2. In DNA news, Florida is first out of the gate in passing a privacy protection law on use of DNA. Insurance companies providing life, disability, and/or long-term care policies are blocked from accessing genetic data for coverage purposes. You can read an article on the new law here.
3. The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, posted an illuminating reminder of how we can miss important information and facts about even the ancestors and relatives that are closest to us in time and that we knew and talked with. It is also a reminder that those city and town directories can provide more than just a residence address and phone numer. Read "Documenting our own" here.
4. Marian Wood, of Climbing My Family Tree blog, posted about her creation of a family history coloring book based on an instructional article in Family Tree Magazine by Lisa Alzo. You can read Marian's post here. There is still plenty of time to create some as holiday presents.
5. With news of "hotspots" now part of our daily news feeds, Peter Muise, of NEW ENGLAND FOLKORE blog, posted this week about New England being a regional hotspot. No, not a COVID19 hotspot since the northeast is doing better than most other areas of the country now (with VT and RI being the only two states to have lowered the number of new cases this week). New England is a real hotspot for UFO sightings and four of the New England states ranked in the top ten for sightings last year–and when RI is added it means that five of the six New England states are in the top 14! You can read Peter's post here.
6. And finally, speaking of New England, for all those with genealogical roots in Rhode Island–and especially if there are those who insisted punctiliously on always referring to Little Rhody by it formal name, "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"–official executive branch documents will no longer use that title. By executive order on June 23rd, Governor Gina Raimondo ordered that the phrase "and Providence Plantations" will not longer be used in gubernatorial orders, citations, all official correspondence, state employee paychecks, or on any executive agency websites. You can read about this change and about how the phrase even became part of the official state name by going here.
Stay home. Stay safe. Protect yourself and others.
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All photos above by the author.
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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew
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