VGS News & Events: 28 July through 3 August 2019

Coming Events:

Thursday: August 1, 2019

Eastern European Genealogy SIG Meeting:

1:00 PM in the Daytona Room at the Sea Breeze Recreation Center

Gen News and Announcements:

The Cool Cash Drawing Winner for July was Karen Sinn, Congratulations

How to Build the Ultimate Genealogy Travel Kit for $25:

Family History Daily
"Everything you need to build the ultimate genealogy research travel kit for $25 or less. Whether you plan on traveling to an archive or a cemetery you'll want to bring along these items every time."
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This Free Web Clipper Makes Adding New Records to Your Family Tree an Easy Task:

Family History Daily
"Family History Daily recently reviewed the free family tree site RootsFinder, because its modern design and robust functionality makes it a great choice for anyone in the market for a new place to store their research."
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Missouri Actively Resists Public Disclosure Laws: All Genealogists Need to Read This

Genealogy's Star
"I am begging every genealogist who spends a few minutes to read this long email account of the refusal and blatant actions of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to share this post and the quoted letter as many times as possible. I am fed up with the government lying and refusing to follow the law at all levels. We all need to take a stand on this issue in our own jurisdictions. Here is the entire explanation, you decide for yourself."
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Cousin Chart—Cousin Relationships Explained:

FamilySearch
"Ever found yourself asking “So what exactly is a second cousin?” or debating with your family and friends about what it means to be “once removed”? We’re here to settle the debate once and for all!"
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Technology:

7 Ways To Free Up Hard Disk Space On Windows:

How to Geek
"Hard drives are getting larger and larger, but somehow they always seem to fill up. This is even more true if you’re using a solid-state drive (SSD), which offers much less hard drive space than traditional mechanical hard drives."
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Education:

What You Need to Know About French Surnames:

Ancestral Findings
"If you have French ancestry, you are in good company. Hundreds of millions of people around the world can claim descent from this ancient nation. Like most countries in Europe, the French people did not start using surnames until the Middle Ages."
Listen now... 8.00 minutes

Webinars:

Google Photos: One Photo App To Rule Them All

Legacy Family Tree
"What if there was a photo app that could manage all your photos and give you unlimited backup space? There is one. It’s called Google Photos. Google’s facial recognition technology lets you create shared albums, collages, animations, movies, stories, and much more. It’s totally free and unlike any other photo app out there."
Wednesday, July 31, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Presenter: Devin Ashby
Learn more or Register for this webinar...

VGS Latest News & Tips: 27 July 2017

Gen News:

Why can mailboxes only be used for U.S. mail?

OUP Blog
"It is against Federal law to put anything in a mailbox, “on which no postage has been paid,” and if caught doing so a person could be fined up to $5,000 and an organization $10,000. Called the Mailbox Restriction Law, most countries do not have such legislation. But there is more."
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Is AncestryDNA helpful for Jewish Genealogy?

Ancestry
"Autosomal DNA testing has become a standard tool used by many genealogists, and it has helped people discover unknown Jewish ancestry. But using autosomal DNA in Jewish research is filled with challenges, due in large part to the Jewish Diaspora and a long history of endogamy (marrying solely within one’s community)."
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Go Fishing with Cousin Bait:

Ancestry
"Are you making it easy for cousins and fellow genealogists to find your family photos in an Ancestry online photo gallery? Genealogy bloggers often use “cousin bait” to catch relatives searching the internet for family names, but did you know that Ancestry Public Member Trees can help catch cousins too?"
Continue reading...

Tech:

All the Cloud Storage Services That Offer Free Storage:

How-to-Geek
"Cloud storage is the dream of the post-PC, mobile-focused tech world…but we’re not quite there yet. There’s a limit to what you can get for free, especially if you go with one of the major services. Here’s an exhaustive list of all the cloud storage and photo services we could find across the web that have at least some free storage options. Use them all at once to save a million Steam games, or just find the best one with the biggest bucket for your most important files."
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Should You Buy a Battery-Powered Wi-Fi Cam?

How-to-Geek
"Most Wi-Fi cams require that you plug them into an outlet to keep them powered on, but advancements in batteries and energy savings over the last couple of years have led to the popularity of battery-powered Wi-Fi cams. The big question is: are they worth it?"
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Education:

Irish Records Search Demo:

FindMyPast
"Use this handy video to guide you through accessing and searching the largest collection of Irish family history records anywhere online, at Findmypast."
Watch video... 8.10 minutes

VGS Latest News & Tips: 20 December 2016

Understanding What Is Meant By “Second Cousin Once Removed” And Similar Relationships:

Family Tree Tips
"A lot of people and myself included when they start researching don’t know the actual meaning of relationships like “Second Cousin Once Removed” or “Third Cousin Twice Removed” and only know the simple stuff like great grandfather, great great grandmother etc."
Continue reading...

AncestorSearch using Google Custom Search:

randymajors.com
"This tool helps you build a better Google search for finding web pages mentioning your ancestors. It returns a more focused set of search results by using advanced Google search techniques including exact phrases, forward and reverse name order, alternate name spellings, logical operators, and so on. Nothing magical, just a big time-saver!"
Continue reading...

The Genealogy Gems Podcast: Episode 198

Lisa Louise Cooke
"This episode’s got a bit of holiday sparkle! Lisa Louise Cooke welcomes Genealogy Gems Book Club author and Victorian lifestyle expert Sarah Chrisman to the show to talk about Victorian holiday traditions, some of which may still live on in your own life. Following that conversation, Lisa shares a fun description of Victorian-era scrapbooking: how it’s different than today’s scrapbooking hobby but also how it reminds her of modern social media."
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How Refrigeration Changed the United States:

Ancestry
"Refrigeration and air conditioning are conveniences that we mostly take for granted in modern buildings and houses. At least I certainly do, after living on the Gulf Coast of Florida for the greater part of my life. Although my ancestors have lived in this sub-tropical environment since the early 1900s, I can’t imagine going through the summer without it."
Continue reading...

UK History:

Ancestry

" Don't let your UK history go undiscovered. Download our research guide and learn 3 tips on discovering your UK ancestors.

Download guide...

Android Guide: Keeping Your Device Secure:

How-to-Geek
"Whenever you walk out your front door with your phone, you carry with you the contents of your life. “Security” may seem like a boring topic, but your phone has all kinds of important, personal, and sensitive information on it—even if you think it doesn’t. When it’s so easy to lose your mobile device or have it stolen, you have to ask yourself: why take chances when protecting your data is so simple?"
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This Day In History: 20 December

1802: The United States buys the Louisiana territory from France.
1933: The German government announces 400,000 citizens are to be sterilized because of hereditary defects.
1938: First electronic television system is patented.
1914 Birthday: Harry F. Byrd Jr., first independent ever elected to US Senate by a majority of the popular vote (Virginia).

State Timelines:

Even though it is hard to tell what made people move or disappear, these are just a few possibilities.
Mississippi:
1825: Vicksburg incorporated
1898: Gulfport incorporated
1907: Boll weevil attached cotton crop
1917: Payne Field established in West Point to train Army Pilots

VGS Latest News & Tips: 27 July 2016

Only 2 More Days To Upgrade to Windows 10 For Free:
Legacy Family Tree
Did you miss the webinar on Windows 10 survival?
It's available online for free until July 29, 2016
"The Windows 10 operating system is not so much a choice as it is an inevitability. As Microsoft continues to remove support from Windows 8 and earlier versions, you should get on board the Windows 10 upgrade train now! Learn the new features of Windows 10, how it will impact how you research genealogy, and more. You’ll also learn which default Windows 10 settings to change as well as how to fix common “annoyances” experienced by most users."
Watch webinar...

Free UK Genealogy, Freereg, FreeBMD and Freecensus Might Not be Free Much Longer:
Dick Eastman eogn.com
"Economics may have caught up with Free UK Genealogy, Freereg, FreeBMD and Freecensus. After all, it costs a lot of money to offer “free” services. The trustees of those web sites now have proposed to change the availability of data transcribed by volunteers from being “free” to “pay to view.”
Continue reading...

Ancestry.com LLC Reports Second Quarter 2016 Financial Results:
Ancestry
"Ancestry's performance continued to accelerate in the second quarter," said Tim Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of Ancestry.  "The combined value proposition of our market-leading family history and DNA offerings has helped deliver over $750 million in revenue in the last four quarters.  We are excited about the opportunities ahead and remain focused on execution and investing in the long-term growth of the company."
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The First American in Space Wore a Pee-Soaked Spacesuit:
Mashable
"Fifty three years ago on May 5, 1961, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard blasted off in a Freedom 7 capsule atop a Mercury-Redstone rocket to become the first American in space.
A little known fact about this flight is what took place before it."
Editor's Note: Do you have stories about any of your ancestors? I'm sure you have many. Newspapers may also have stories about them. Here is an example of a story that should be added to the ancestor's facts or events section of your genealogy database. It helps make a person not just a name with a few dates.
Continue reading...

Second Cousins Are Magic:
Ancestry
“How in the world did you find those great old photos?”
“I wish my family had photos like that.”
“I’m so jealous, all our family photos were lost in the flood.”
Hint: Second cousins have all the best photos.
Continue reading...

Family History And The Search For Identity:
Ancestry
"Questions about our identity, our personalities, and our selves are fundamental to the pursuit of family history. We want to know where we come from, what we are, what made us who we are. The biggest TV programme about our subject poses the question as a challenge: ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ The implication is that family history might change this."
Continue reading...

How to Make a Shortcut Icon to Create a System Restore Point in Windows:
How-to-Geek
"Windows’ System Restore doesn’t get as much praise as it once did, even though it’s still an incredibly useful feature. Judging by the feedback on our own forums, it saves people from certain destruction on a nearly daily basis. The only problem is that it takes far too many steps to manually create a new restore point. Can’t we just make a shortcut icon for it? Turns out, yes, there are a couple of ways to do it."
Continue reading...

This Day In History: 27 July
1663: British Parliament passes a second Navigation Act, requiring all goods bound for the colonies be sent in British ships from British ports.
1905: The International Workers of the World found their labor organization in Chicago.
1909: Orville Wright sets a world record for staying aloft in an airplane–one hour, 12 minutes and 40 seconds.
1906 Birthday: Leo Durocher, baseball player and manager.

State Timelines:
Even though it is hard to tell what made people move or disappear, these are just a few possibilities.
South Carolina
1738: Measles epidemic and again in 1747
1751: Diphtheria outbreak
1753: Influx of settlers from Antigua

VGS Latest News & Tips: 17 September 2015

Today: Thursday, September 17, 2015

New England Genealogy SIG Meeting

Noon in the New Smyrna Room at the Sea Breeze Recreation Center
Tomorrow: Friday, September 18, 2015

Scandinavian Genealogy SIG Meeting

10:00 AM in the Clearwater Room Sea Breeze Recreation Center

What’s New on FamilySearch—August, 2015:
FamilySearch
"Each month, FamilySearch publishes a list of new changes and updates to the FamilySearch.org website. This list includes changes to Family Tree as well as other parts of FamilySearch.org. In some cases, these changes will also be published as individual articles where the need to do so exists."
Continue reading...

DARPA Wants to Make Encryption Invincible for Everyone:
Dick Eastman: eogn.com
"Today marks five years since the birth of our genealogy webinar series. And now, with 263 webinars behind us, we continue to reach for the stars in bringing you the best online genealogy education."
Continue reading...

10 Census Questions That Lead to Answers:
Ancestry.com
"You’ll get more than just answers in a census record: you’ll also find clues in each one that point you to other record collections at Ancestry.com. Here are 10 of our favorite next-step clues from the census. Use them to learn more about your family’s history and craft a few new searches, too!"
Download document...

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The VGS

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"Kissing Cousins"
Borders Ancestry
"The number of intermarriage between cousins, first, second and otherwise is literally quite staggering."
Continue reading...

This Day in History: September 17
1787: The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia approves the constitution for the United States of America.
1796: President George Washington delivers his “Farewell Address” to Congress before concluding his second term in office.
1916: Germany’s “Red Baron,” Manfred von Richthofen, wins his first aerial combat.
1923 Birthday: Hank Williams, Sr., influential Country singer, songwriter and guitarist (“Lonesome Blues,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart”.)