Copyright - Finally, some good news!

The Legal Genealogist, Judy G Russell, blogs every single day!  And they're always informative and easy to understand. That's because she speaks and writes in English not "Lawyer-speak"! Her blog today is about a tremendous resource offered by the New York Public Library.  You can, and should, read her blog here.  You can and should subscribe to her blog!

Here's the link to take you directly to the collection.

 

"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!

 

 

 

 

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• Parent's Rights versus Grandparent's Interests - Insights from the Law


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Christmas Day - Paid Holiday??

 

Here's a link to Judy G. Russell's latest blog on "The Legal Genealogist" www.legalgenealogist.com where she describes the following law enacted in...where else...Massachusetts in 1659.

 



 

For those who are squinting, here's what it says:

 

For preventing disorders arising in several places within this jurisdiction, by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries, to the great dishonor of God and offence of others, it is therefore ordered by this Court and the authority thereof, that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon such accounts as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for every such offence five shillings, as a fine to the country.

 

She includes the following citation:

 

Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, M.D., editor, Records of the Governor and
Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, vol. 4, part 1 (Boston:
William White, public printer, 1854), 366; digital images, Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org : accessed 25 Dec
2013).

 

I highly recommend Judy's blog and would highly suggest that you follow her.  She writes on genealogical issues AND she writes in English...not "lawyer-speak".  As an added bonus, she has a great sense of humor which makes her blogs easy to read in addition to being information and educational.

 



[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Acts and Laws, of His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England. Boston: printed by Kneeland and Green, 1742. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

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Parent's Rights versus Grandparent's Interests - Insights from the Law

There is a fantastically informative and often entertaining blog from a renowned genealogist, lawyer and overall interesting person, Judy G Russell.  Visit www.legalgenealogist.com for today's post "Games grandparents play."  (Sorry...the hyperlinks don't seem to be working today!) It's a subject that, frankly, I never thought about.  But at the same time, I've never had an urge to swab any of our grandkids without their parent's knowledge.  Perhaps we'll get to that someday.  There's just a few more pressing priorities at this time!

I subscribe to "The Legal Genealogist" and manage to read most of what she presents. I strongly recommend that you subscribe as well...Lots of good "stuff"!  I've seen her speak at several venues, heard her on several webinars and look forward to the next chance I get to be further enlightened.

Speaking of grandkids, our family was blessed again this morning with the latest bundle to join the clan.  Raegan Louise was born this morning and weighed in at 8 pounds 9 ounces.  Her name is taken from her grandfather's first name, Ray, and her paternal great grandmother's name, Louise.  She has a cousin named Lillie Rae whose middle name is after the same grandfather Ray.  I think it's very creative that the sisters chose to name their girls after their father.  And good luck to Sammie, Chad and Raegan!

The Treasure Trove in Legislative Petitions - Live Webinar

Attached is a link to "The Legal Genealogist" blog. Judy Russell is an attorney and an accomplished genealogist, writer and lecturer in the field of genealogy and how the laws apply to the field. She writes daily in a very interesting and humorous style in her blog, The Legal Genealogist. She's another one of those highly educated, highly intelligent professionals who "speaks English"!!

I wanted to share this link: The Treasure Trove in Legislative Petitions so that I could introduce you to her and inform you about the ISGS Webinar which is being broadcast tomorrow night. "Admission" is free and yes, I know, it's running concurrently with WDYTYA! Fire up your TVR's and participate in what should prove to be an interesting and educational hour.

Massachusetts Genealogical Council

"The Massachusetts Genealogical Council (MGC) is an umbrella organization representing genealogists, historical researchers, and all those concerned about records preservation and open access to public records."

Karen and I participated in the annual meeting of the MGC yesterday, Saturday, July 20, 2013. We actually had a pretty good time with the help of VERY effective air conditioning at the Hogan Center on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. The featured speaker was a nationally known lawyer/genealogist, Judy G. Russell, CG, CGL owner of "The Legal Genealogist". You can find her at The Legal Genealogist

Judy presented 3 programs through the course of the day. She's far from boring! Intelligent and very knowledgeable in the field of genealogy, the first program was "Breaking Through the 20th Century Brick Wall---Building a Family Through Circumstantial Evidence." Great stuff! She pointed out a number of time saving strategies that could help just about anyone who has hit their genealogical "brick wall."

Second, she presented How Knowing the Law Makes Us Better Genealogists." She strongly advises checking the laws in the state in which you're researching. For example, based on her experience in one particular town clerk's office, she brought copies of the legislation that allowed public access. The town clerk stated emphatically, "You can't see that. It's the law." She immediately pulled out "the law" and asked to be shown which part of "the law" prevented her from doing her research. It took about a half hour of the clerk and her staff studying Judy's copies, but she ultimately prevailed.

Finally, she presented "No Person Shall...Gallop Horses in the Streets: Using Court Records to Tell the Story of Our Ancestor's Lives." Among all the information she provided, here's a bit of interesting data: So, you think that checking the voter's list in the early 1800's Virginia for a female ancestor is a waste of time? Believe it or not, sometime between 1805 and 1807, the Virginia legislature allowed it!! It wasn't long before they legislated against it, but it happened.

We also heard from Kimberly Toney representing the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester. They are the repository foor an amazing amount of early American history in the form of millions of documents, books, leaflets and loose paper from "first contact" to about 1876. Worth a look!

Great program, great venue (it was actually TOO cold!!) and great to see a number of people that I usually only communicate with in blogs, webinars and other internet venues.

We took the scenic drive home and stopped at the "Steaming Tender" in Palmer, Mass for dinner. All in all, a long but productive day.