Old Bones Family Research of New England: History

Showing posts with label History. Show all posts

25 June 2014

Index to Collections at the Museum of Springfield History

The Lyman & Merrie Museum of Springfield History is what I would call "The Best Kept Genealogical Secret in Western

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Lyman & Merrie Wood Museum Of Springfield History (Photo credit: pecooper98362)[/caption]

Massachusetts." It is a facility that is part of the Springfield Library system and is situated across the street from the Quadrangle of museums: the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, the Michelle and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts and the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum (currently under an extensive remodeling program). The Museum of Springfield History houses the History Library & Archives, the subject of the PVHN blog linked here: Index to Collections.

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The Connecticut River and Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. Looking south from Mt. Sugarloaf in Deerfield, toward the towns of Sunderland, Amherst and Whately. The buildings of the University of Massachusetts Amherst can be seen in the distance to the left, and farther off, the Holyoke range of mountains. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

The PVHN (Pioneer Valley Historical Network) is coordinated by one of the the archivists, Cliff McCarthy. Cliff posts e-mails of historical and genealogical activities throughout the Pioneer Valley by maintaining a large e-mail contact list. What I want everyone to be aware of is the PVHN Research Finding Aids Project. To quote the blog :

Many of the Pioneer Valley’s museums and archives, both large and small, have printed “finding aids” for certain collections, or for their entire holdings. These finding aids, once a standard practice for museums and archives, are used by museum staff to locate specific items from those collections. For the researcher, they provide insight into the holdings of that museum or archives. Frequently, these finding aids are not digitized and are nowhere to be found on the world wide web.

This project will enable researchers and the general public to utilize archival resources of the Pioneer Valley that are currently languishing because finding aids for many important collections have not been made available on the Internet.

It's another site that's well worth the look for anyone researching in Western Massachusetts.

Wednesday Night at the Springfield Archives

JFK items on display in Springfield

Motocycle History in the Pioneer Valley

Springfield Museums: Sargeant, Seuss and Snow

19 May 2014

11 Ways That Historical Photos Provide Clues About Our Ancestors Lives - The Ancestor Hunt

Here's a great blog with quite a bit of useful information in general and for family researchers specifically. Take a look!

11 Ways That Historical Photos Provide Clues About Our Ancestors Lives - The Ancestor Hunt

Hallowed Ground! Driving Your Research! Muses! - It's Follow Friday!

A Beginner's Guide to Honouring Ancestors

31 March 2014

The Gravestone Girls

Dave Robison / 2 mins ago

Gravestone at Mabe Church (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This post is directed mostly at the folks living here or near Western Massachusetts. Full Disclosure: I’m promoting a presentation that will take place this Wednesday night at the April meeting of the Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society of which I am a board member. The reason is simple. I think this will be one of the most interesting presentations we’ve had in a long time! We’re hosting the Gravestone Girls.

The presentation will be held at the Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main St, Agawam, Massachusetts. There’s a little bit of Society business at 6:00 PM and then the program begins. Free and open to the public. We’d love to have you there! We’d love to have you join!!

Here’s their press release

Historic Cemetery Documentation and Mortuary Art

The Gravestone Girls’ mission is to “Keep Our Dead Alive!” We create decorative artwork using the beautiful and primitive images carved on olde New England gravestones; give lectures on cemetery art, history and symbolism as well as teach gravestone rubbing classes! Our work aims to entertain and educate on the historical perspective of old cemeteries by documenting and preserving the beautiful art they contain.

To produce our three-dimensional art pieces, we perfected a casting technique which exactly replicated the original gravestone carving. The creations in our collection are derived from 17th-21st century gravestones found in cemeteries throughout the New England region. All our pieces are hand-formed and finished in a process we specifically developed. It’s important to note that no stones are ever harmed by our techniques—preservation is our primary concern!

Artwork by The Gravestone Girls is used to decorate the home and garden, provide a resource for historical education and fundraising as well as assist people in the genealogical documentation of their ancestral gravestones. Wall hangings, jewelry, magnets, clocks and other interior and exterior pieces are the result of our artistic endeavors. We regularly make our craft available to families desiring a memento from a sacred resting place. We also develop collections of important images related to a town’s history to be used as a method to raise money for cemetery restoration projects, fund other historical related projects and help support a group’s future activities.

History lessons are a Gravestone Girls’ specialty! We regularly deliver lectures on the art, history and symbolism of gravestones and the evolution of cemeteries from the 17th century through modern day. Our programs are tailored to the town, group or organization we are speaking to; and a thorough examination of local burial grounds is conducted prior to the event. Photographs are collected from our exploration and used to build a comprehensive ninety minute presentation.

We would be honored by the opportunity to develop a special commission piece of your family’s historic gravestone, present a lecture to an organization you are involved with or participate in another aspect of your local history! Feel free to inquire!

The Gravestone Girls endeavor to help preserve a rich folk art tradition unique to our nation. We hope you are intrigued enough by our activities to investigate and expand on the special history which lives in everyone’s backyards.

Brenda Sullivan, Maggie White & Melissa Anderson

The Gravestone Girls – Putting the ‘Rave’ Back in Grave!

Anne Sullivan Memorial placque and statue, Feeding Hills, Ma, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

grave stone of James B. Stephens and wife Elizabeth (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

13 March 2014

How will they find them a hundred years from now?

Believe me, I had enough trouble when I first met some people back in the 70's who were using hyphenated names. I mean, you got married, the woman took the husband's family name, the family name was passed down to the children and all was right with the world. This isn't necessarily a rant about various cultures and their naming conventions. As a matter of fact, I respect naming conventions....when they are conventions! Conventions such as a Swedish son taking the name of his father with the word "...son" appended: Anderson, Erikson, etc. I can understand that. Or the Spanish child with the father's surname first then the mother's surname hyphenated: Gonzalas Y Lupez. No problems!

Without getting into anyone's personal details, I'm amazed at the fact that there are hundreds and more than likely thousands of families that use whatever is convenient or sounds cool. My wife works in a field where she has a great deal of contact with kids in the 1st to 4th grades. She tells me many stories about kids this age who don't yet know their own names. Or they register for the programs under one name but the parents insist that the child is called by another name. I'm not talking about calling "Thomas" "Tom". It's more like calling "Jeremy" "Louis"! This is not a case of using the middle name rather than the given name. These "Names of Convenience" are nowhere to be found on any documentation at all! Then there are the cases where a child is given an unpronounceable name with symbols integrated within the spelling! I'm not kidding! Using the "Thomas" example, she might see "Tom#as". Or "Anna-marble" I'm not sure how the "Thomas" name would be pronounced (I could ask my wife before I post this) but I know that the second one is "Anna Dash Marble". Anna Dash Marble?? Who??? (See the link below on creating fantasy names...I believe there are thousands of parents who are already there!)

And it doesn't stop there. There are families that seem to change their family names on a whim. That alone will cause more genealogical brick walls than you can count. But it will bring a fresh new meaning to the mantra "Speeling Duzn't Cownt"!

I'm glad I'm researching 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th century people in the 21st century. I pity the genealogists of the 22nd century! Break out the DNA tests...

Now if there's any reason for this generation to put together their own family histories, this might be it. If we can today put together solid family trees with proper citations and proof arguments, then perhaps the genealogists of the future will only have to deal with a generation or two. They may only have to work back to this generation, when genealogy and family research was easy!

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Landing Page naming conventions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

That's Hadrien Trudeau: new baby, new spelling

Creating Fantasy Names For Your Fiction Stories

A Wife By Any Other Name

08 March 2014

Lessons in Marketing a Genealogist's Website

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Aerial view of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

Today was a very productive day! I had to drive about 200 miles round trip to Boston, but it was worth it and I'd do it again. I belong to the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists. We call it simply NEAPG. That's a lot easier to get off your tongue! As a matter of fact, I happen to be this year's vice president. It seems to be just like Joe Biden, who doesn't seem to have a lot of "real" responsibilities, he just has to try to stay out of trouble!

The big focus for me today was a presentation by fellow genealogist, Marian Pierre-Louis. She's well suited to today's subject matter which had to do with marketing your website: Getting focused, making a business plan, using the internet to your advantage and, my biggest mystery, social media.

Last week, the membership was asked to volunteer their websites for Marian's critique at today's meeting. Since I just rehashed my own, I wanted to get someone who knows a whole lot more than I do about such mysteries to help me get it polished up. I had no idea how many offered their sites or if she'd pick mine.

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website ideas (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)[/caption]

Well, she picked 3 sites, largely because I think that only 3 people offered to participate. Luckily, my site was one of the 3. Well, I learned a great deal about structuring my web site. Truth be known, I had already done a lot of things right! But she had some very helpful insights to tweak it up. For example, she thought I had too many pages, visitors would have to click too many times to get to what I wanted them to see. So, tonight, and it's well after midnight, I just finished restructuring the largest part of what she suggested I do. I've got a few more issues to remedy.

But I was particularly glad that she covered blogs, Facebook, Twitter and a couple of other social media issues. I'm not ready to talk much about it tonight. But I plan on re-reading my notes, tweaking all the sites where I want a presence and watching to see if it impacts the results. Then I can talk about what she suggested, what I did and how well it worked.

I will say that after the first week or so of working this new site, I contracted with a new client out of California. I asked the client, for the sake of knowing which marketing was working for me, how did they find me. They said they simply searched Google for a professional genealogist in this area and my site popped up first!! Not bad for an amateur webmaster!

D. Joshua Taylor: Gen Y: The Top Lessons Learned From Genealogy

The Wonderful Generosity of Genealogists

More than 80 Million Professional and Amateur Genealogists around the World!

Super Sleuth Colleen Fitzpatrick, a Forensic Genealogist

Introducing a New Live Internet Radio Show for New England History

Newly released historical census data offers genealogists a rare glimpse into 1920s Canada

Genealogist Reveals Royal Scandal

23 February 2014

DNA: bringing them home | The Legal Genealogist

What good is genealogy? What good is DNA testing? Judy G. Russell has some VERY solid answers! Please click the link "DNA: bringing them home" (you may have to click "Continue reading" for the live link):

DNA: bringing them home | The Legal Genealogist.

You may also want to subscribe to Judy Russell's blogs by RSS feed or by e-mail. She's worth the minute or so a day to read.

: A section of DNA; the sequence of the plate-like units (nucleotides) in the center carries information. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

21 February 2014

30 Day Indexing Challenge

30 Day Indexing Challenge. Indexed records are likely the only type of records that a majority of researchers are familiar with. Many don't realize that there are millions upon millions of records that remain UN-indexed. For that reason, those records are either impossible to find or at best a difficult challenge to browse for your ancestor.

Here's the answer: Indexing! See "30 Day Indexing Challenge." Simply put, you look at a hand written document, transcribe it by typing what you see into the appropriate fields and submit! Each document is indexed twice. Discrepancies are sent to "Arbitrators" to resolve those discrepancies. Once all 3 steps are complete, VOILA! You can search for the individuals within that record and get the data you need for your research.

I'm reblogging from "thegenealogygirl" who has thrown down the research gauntlet and is asking volunteers to step up and assist with this vital part of everyone's research.

Try the program at www.familysearch.org where you'll see links on the home page to get you started. Click "Indexing" just below the large picture. It will take you to this page where you can "Test Drive", "Get Started", "Find a Project" (from easy to very difficult!!) and "Get Help".

It's easy...really!!

FamilySearch Indexing Volunteers Nearing One Billion Record Milestone

More Massachusetts Vital Records Available at FamilySearch - Indexing

FamilySearch Adds More Than 39.5 Million Indexed Records and Images to Collections from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and the United States

FamilySearch Adds More Than 2.7 Million Indexed Records and Images to Collections from Brazil, Colombia, England, Portugal, and the United States

Have You Tried a Probate Search in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania?

17 February 2014

Indexing: How it works

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Adriana Hernandez baptized 1925 (Photo credit: GoCal83)[/caption]

I've done some indexing over the past few years but lately, I haven't had the time. So, the best I can do is get the message out and perhaps someone reading this blog will take a look at the process and volunteer. There are a number of indexing projects out there, but it's Family Search that may have the largest collection of un-indexed documents. If you go to www.familysearch.org, there's a link right below the large image in the center of the page called "Indexing". Click the link, download a very small software program and you're in business!

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Maria Hernandez baptized 1920 (Photo credit: GoCal83)[/caption]

There are a few rules to go by, but essentially, it's pretty easy. You'll have to have or get a user name and password. But please don't worry that someone from the Latter Day Saints will haunt you! That's just not their style or their motivation.

FamilySearch Needs Volunteers who Read and Write Italian or are Willing to Learn a Limited Italian Vocabulary

FamilySearch Adds More Than 39.5 Million Indexed Records and Images to Collections from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and the United States

16 February 2014

"Fishing" in all the DNA "Pools"

Every day, I receive an e-mail containing the post from Judy G. Russell, the Legal Genealogist. As a matter of fact, that's the name of her blog, "The Legal Genealogist". I like her posts for a number of reasons. First, she writes in "English". By that I mean you can understand what she's trying to say. In spite of the fact...or perhaps because of the fact...that she's an attorney, she has a great sense of humor and a unique ability to convey a story or explain an issue in easy to understand language. She is a classy lecturer with a message, many messages as a matter of fact! My wife and I have listened to her a number of times and we always come away with a good understanding of the subject matter.

Today's blog is entitled "Baiting the Hook" which I advise you to read...it'll take about 4 minutes. Just click the title and you'll be taken there. After you read "Baiting the Hook", I'm pretty sure you'll want to follow her. She covers many genealogical subjects and legal issues that can help anyone with their research.

After reading today's post, I feel better that I've tested with 2 companies, FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe. And now I'm encouraged to test with Ancestry DNA even though they got off to a horrific start!

Let me know what you think!