VGS Latest News & Tips: 30 May 2016

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May, originated as Decoration Day after the American Civil War in 1868, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois, established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. By the 20th century, competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Memorial Day Tribute
Military Outreach USA
Military Outreach USA honors all who have fallen in service to our nation.
Watch Video... 4.12 minutes
Learn how you can honor those who have fallen.

12 Free Websites to Search for & Honor Fallen Military Ancestors on Memorial Day:
Genealogy Insider
"To help you honor your military ancestors, we've gathered these websites where you can search for those who died serving in US wars."
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Remember Your Ancestors On Memorial Day:
Families.com
"One of the ways to celebrate Memorial Day is to visit a graveyard, and decorate the graves of your ancestors who were in the military. This gives a genealogist the opportunity to record the information that is found on their gravestones. If you are unable to travel to a cemetery on Memorial Day weekend, you might still be able to obtain the information on a grave from an online resource."
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Military Genealogy Tips for Memorial Day: Finding Pension Records:
Genealogy Insider
"Honor your military ancestors this Memorial Day by learning more about their lives and service. One way is through pension records, which can be rich with information about the person who served."
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3 Clues for Discovering Military Service:
Amy Johnson Crow
"Digging into military records can yield an incredible amount of information about our ancestors. (My favorite is my 3rd-great-grandfather’s Civil War pension file. It showed that he married his second wife 12 days after she divorced her previous husband."
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Memorial Day – All Gave Some, Some Gave All:
DNAeXplained
"For Memorial Day, I wanted to take a look at my ancestors and see just how many served our country, or the colonies that would become our country. I was surprised, and a bit overwhelmed, to discover just how many veterans I have for ancestors."
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This Day In History: 30 May
1431: Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by the English.
1783: The first American daily newspaper, The Pennsylvania Evening Post, begins publishing in Philadelphia.
1868: Memorial Day begins when two women place flowers on both Confederate and Union graves.
1909 Birthday: Benny Goodman, musician, big band leader.

State Timelines:
Even though it is hard to tell what made people move or disappear, these are just a few possibilities.
New York:
1610: Dutch settled along the Hudson River
1623: Fort built at site of Albany
1633: Swedes arrived in Mohawk & Schoharie Valleys