Saturday Serendipity (September 19, 2020)

 

Greetings from the Adirondacks where the fall foliage is just starting to turn colors and peak should be reached in the next couple of weeks.  The weather has been dry and sunny, but highs only in the 50s and we reached a low of 26 last night.

Here are just a few suggested reads for this weekend .  .  .

1.   If you have not yet seen or heard, the USPS released a new Forever stamp celebrating the arrival of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harber in 1620.  The new stamp became available as of two days ago. You can see an image of the stamp and learn more about its launch here.

2.   And speaking of the Adirondacks, I recently became aware of what is probably a little known possible resource for genealogy research.  There are 46 peaks in the Adirondacks that are said to be over 4,000 ft. above sealevel. Since 1948 there has been a formally incorporated club known as the Adirondack Forty-Sixers.  It is comprised of those who have documented completion of climbs of all of the 46 designated peaks.  In March 1990 the Forty-Sixers established the New York State Library as the  official repository of its records.  Those records are extensive and include applications for membership with documentation of the applicants' climbs as well as correspondence to and from the club secretary.  If you think you have an ancestor or relative who lived in the Adirondacks or visited there reglarly and was an avid hiker/climber, then you might be able to find information about them and their climbs in the Forty-Sixer archives at the library.  Learn more about this lesser known resource here.  

3.   With devastating and heartbreaking calamities of wildfires, floods, and hurricane damage in the news for the past several weeks, the subject of rescuing and preserving genealogy artifacts, data, and research sources has become an important and timely topic.  Linda Stufflebean, of Empty Branches on the Family Tree blog, shares her advice for preserving precious family history items here.

4.   The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, posted this week about Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, an online collection of 17,013,539 pages from 3,263 American newpapers going back to the 1780s . . . and all available FOR FREE!  Read more about this exciting research source here.  

5.  And finally, imagine the luck of discovering your 3rd great grandmother's photograph resides in a major photography museum collection.  Elizabeth Handler, of From Maine to Kentucky blog, was recently informed of this discovery.  Read more and see the photograph in question here.   

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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (September 12, 2020)

 

The following are suggested reads for this weekend.

1.   American Ancestors/NEHGS has just announced the FREE availability of over 100 online video lectures and webinars.  You can review the wide variety of subjects by going here.

2.   Jacqi Stevens, of A Family Tapestry blog, wrote today about her indexing of U.S. Naturalization Records and stated, "I was indexing–and again, from New Jersey, close enough to perhaps help some shirttail relatives of my New York immigrant kin."  The term "shirttail relative" is not one you see very often these days.  Apparently it is largely a U.S. term and has supposedly been around since the 1950s. This led to an old 2012 blog posting by Susan F., of It's a long long journey blog and her exploration into a shirttail relative.  It is an Irish story involving several families--so diagraming might be helpful, but the essence of the shirttail idiom comes through clearly.  You can read Susan's story here.  [ N.B. -- One reasonable explanation for the use of "shirttail" to descibe a close friend who has been given the status of honorary relative–or an actual, but very distant relative–is that the tail of a shirt is the farthest part of the garment that is tucked away, ignored and out of sight from the daily conspicuous, shown parts.  In the same way very distant relatives or particularly close non-relative friends are there and part of the overall function of a family, but they are like a shirttail tucked away and out of sight most of the time.]  

3.   James Tanner, of Genealogy's Star blog, has initiated another multi-post topic.  Read Part I of "How do geneaogically significant records get preserved?" here.

4.   Read here the quick, succinct words of wisdom from Janine Adams, professional organizer and author of Organize Your Family History blog.  Now if I can only finally and successfully implement this great advice!  

5.   The Weekly Genealogist of American Ancestors/NEHGS highlighted an article this week announced on Jewish News about the availability of a newly digitized Holocaust database that makes nearly 20 million records relating to the Holocaust and Nazi persecution accessible for free.  The project was made possible by the collaboration of Steven Spielberg's Shoah Fondation, UNESCO's Arolsen Archives Collection, and Ancestry.  You can read more about the project and get the link to its location on Ancestry by going here.     

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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (September 5, 2020)

 

Here are a few suggested reads for this Labor Day weekend.

1.  The most recent edition of American Ancestors magazine announced a new database–NEHGS Membership Applications, 1845 - 1900.  There is a search function for the surname of applicants within the database timeperiod, and the applications are a wealth of information.  Members of NEHGS/American Ancestors can see the article detailing the new database and instructions on how to access it.  Non-members might be able to see the article if a local library subscribes.   

2.   James Tanner, of Genealogy's Star blog, posted today about using YouTube for genealogy channels that are available on that site.  Read "Look for Genealogy Channels on YouTube" here.

3.  For many, the pandemic has forced unexpected time that could be devoted to one's genealogy pursuits.  Jacquiline Krieps Schattner, of Seeds to Tree blog, has been busy indeed and she presents a nice visual of the before and after status of her progress on her family tree during the pandemic.  See "Pandemic Progress" here.

4.   Marian Wood, of Climbing My Family Tree blog, posted this week about writing a family history of 18 of her husband's family members that fought in the Civil War and she answers questions she posed about writing and organizing by thinking like a reader.  Read "Finishing Touches for Family History: Think Like A Reader!" here.

5.   Ever heard of a Merci Train Boxcar?  Neither had I until I read Heather Rojo's post, "The Merci Train Boxcar of Manchester, New Hampshire" on her blog, Nutfield Gneealogy.   You too can learn about the Merci Train Boxcar by going here.

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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

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