NoteWorthy Reads #22

Image from Pixabay.com

For me, Noteworthy Reads are articles, websites, or blog posts I found recently which are fascinating, interesting and/or helpful, and occasionally “wacky” or “wonderful” will likely sneak in as well. When I have the time I review the posts to determine which entries should be put in my Resource pages; the rest will remain available through the blog's search function.

Note: Just because I list an article does not mean I endorse its contents. It just means I want to be able to find it easily in the future when I may want to consider the issue in more depth.

Because things got out of hand this month, this covers finds from September 2015. 

CANADA

British Home Child Group International – has a new website whose mission is to provide free research, genealogical tips and reunite families of British Home Children worldwide. The history section explains “From the early 1860s up to the 1970s, children who were institutionalized in ‘Homes’ across the UK, were sent, to countries across the British Empire to be used as indentured farm workers and domestics. The majority of the up to 120,000 British Home children sent to Canada arrived between 1869 and 1939. Mostly, they ranged in age from four to fifteen.…”

Canadian Genealogy Resources from the Genealogy: Beyond the BMD blog – she has compiled a list of sites and resources that she has used for Canadian genealogy and links to the PDF in this article.

DNA

AncestryDNA Announces New IN COMMON WITH Tool use and usefulness (or lack/limitations thereof) explained by The Genetic Genealogist Read the comments too.

Ancestry Shared Matches Combined with New Ancestor Discoveries from the DNA eXplained – Genetic Genealogy blog  Read the comments too

New AncestryDNA Common Matches Tool: Love It! from Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems blog  

GREAT STORIES 

Letter Seeking Relatives of the Early 20^th Century Immigrant Lands into Federal Agents Hands from the Find Lost Russian & Ukrainian Family blog – had to be a disconcerting call! 

The Victorian Traderess Who Battled Colonialism and Crocodiles in Africa from atlasobscura.com - Explorer, trader, and anthropologist Mary Henrietta Kingsley was a fascinating woman, especially for her times 

HISTORY

1931-1936 Building the Hoover Dam from Mashable.com – article contains magnificent photos of the building of the Hoover dam. At its peak, the project employed 5251 people: did your ancestor work there? (To my current knowledge, mine didn’t, but I still find the photos fascinating.)

Female Spies and Gender Bending Soldiers Changed the Course of the Civil War  from collectorsweekly.com – very interesting

How a Fake Typhus Epidemic Saved a Polish City from the Nazis from atlasobscura.com – fascinating story

How two 18^th-Century Lady Pirates Became BFFs on the High Seas from Atlasobscura.com  – interesting!

INTERESTING ARTICLE

An Underutilized Treasure! Spread the Word!! from Passage to the Past’s blog – I did not know about the Innovation Hub at NARA; sounds pretty cool!

Read This Case from the blog of The Legal Genealogist – hee!

How to Introduce Yourself to Other Genealogists at a Genealogy Conference from the Olive Tree Genealogy blog – I followed her advice when I went to my first conference a few weeks ago and it helped! I include a picture on my post about the conference.

How NOT Finding an Ancestor May Actually Help Your Research from familyhistorydaily.com – negative search results can be just as valuable as positive search results.

NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS

Europeana Newspaper Project Makes 20+ Million Newspaper Pages Available Online – article describes the project and gives links to discover more than 20 million historic European newspaper pages with close to 12 million pages fully searchable

Help! Where Are All My Ancestors Newspaper Articles? from theancestorhunt.com – good advice

SCOTLAND

Scandals and Divorce in Edinburg from the Genealogy: Beyond the BMD blog – Dianna has found a great resource for those ancestors who may have gone through Scotland’s version of Family Court between 1658 and 1800.

TIPS

A Faster, Easier Way to Find Collections on FamilySearch from Amy Johnson Crow's blog 

4 Things to Do When Using a Genealogy Database from Amy Johnson Crow 

How to Navigate around the Internet Archive Search Bug from The Ancestry Insider

Wills and Probate Records [on Ancestry.com]: How Do I Find What I Am Looking for? from the Ancestry.com blog – tips on how to find what you’re looking for, including a free Ancestry Academy class video.

           

Thoughts on Ancestry.com’s Probate Database from Michael John Neill at Rootdig.com - some more helpful tips.

Go the Distance – Living in the World of Your Ancestors from the Genealogy’s Star blog– includes maps showing how long it took to get from point A to point B in the USA in 1800, 1830 and 1857 (before and after the introduction of the railroad). Knowing this helps our analysis as to whether X document in Z state can possibly be our "John Snyder".

Occupational Records from the Worldwide Genealogy blog – if we want to thoroughly understand our ancestors’ lives then we must research occupational records to understand their work lives. This article gives some suggestions as to the sort of records to look for by occupation.

What to Do When the Name on the Record Is Wrong from Amy Johnson Crow  – it’s a matter of analysis.

Tip: Study the Entire Document from the blog of The Enthusiastic Genealogist – I've done this too, if it was a snake it would’ve bit me!

Tip: Use the Ancestry.com Card Catalog from the Cousin Detective blog - more treasures beyond the obvious

The Genealogy’s Star blog is presenting a series on Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors, including, thus far: Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors: Begin Research in the United States; Find Your Immigrant Ancestors – Naturalization Records – Part One; Find Your Immigrant Ancestors – Naturalization Records – Part Two; and Find Your Immigrant Ancestors – Naturalization Records – Part Three

TOOLS

5 Utterly Fascinating History Education Resources from makeuseof.com – including one to see a world map for any year, which could help in seeing the changing boundaries of countries throughout history.

Veteran Administration Pension Payment Cards, covering applications made 1907 to 1933 article by  the Familytree.com blog describing where to find the resource and how to use it.

One Million World War II POW Records Now Online- article discussing the new database by Gould Genealogy

Resources for Learning about Genealogical Research from the Genealogy Star blog – a long bibliographic list of genealogy publications dealing with all sorts of research.

I Have a New Toy! from the Ancestoring blog – tells us how she plots the land plats of her ancestors using a downloaded copy of the original Township/range survey from the Bureau of Land Management website (in order to find out who their neighbors are, for a FAN search).

DAR Offers Free Online Genealogy Research Tools from the Fort Worth Examiner's website – article lists and explains the seven free databases.

USA

MARYLAND

Finding Maryland County Land Records – Certified and Uncertified Plats from Old Bones Genealogy – “Whether certified or uncertified, these land surveys contain at a minimum the following information:  Grantor, Grantee, Patent/Deed reference number, description of property and, usually, a drawing or plat of the property. If certified, it may also lead us to the patent or deed.”

MICHIGAN

Was Your German Ancestor Recruited to Come to Michigan?  from the Journey to the Past blog – fascinating article about the period of time when Michigan actively recruited in Germany for immigrants to their state which includes a list of state records kept.

OHIO

Land for Ohio’s Daughters from the blog of The Legal Genealogist -interesting article about the right of married women to will property, and the 1831 court case that recognized that right had existed as of 1810, when married women had very few rights. A step towards women's rights.