October 2010 Blog Posts (34)

News Clipping from the Salem Evening News, June 3, 1938 (a Massachusetts Newspaper).

Old houses in Essex Of…

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I previously wrote "Searching For Me" but have come to an additional afterthought. I look like my father, Cecil Boyd.

Out of his six children that's what everyone said. Then I thought of his father, Frank Boyd. Frank died when I was five, so my recollection is not that keen but I remember that his complexion was a reddish bronze. He had high cheekbones and shiny soft hair, known to African American's as good hair. But there were his eyes. His eyes seemed to have the ability to…

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We recently completed a video that we were hired to do by Bright Sky Press, a Houston-based publisher of fine books for national and international trade distribution. The video explores the message of Venerable Master Miao Tsan, abbot at Vairocana Zen Monastery in Garden Grove, CA, lecturer and author of several books including his newly published, “Just Use…

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The very recent additions to the Beta FamilySearch.org website prominently features a search link to "FamilySearch Centers." Here is a screen shot showing the link:…



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We have mothers and fathers and think that's enough. It's not. You look at their faces searching and wondering how theirs made you. Finding an ancestor says that's where my eyes come from. I like wearing socks and loafers. My parents didn't but someone in my past does. I know this because I don't know a name, and haven't seen a face, I know their walk. They walk like me, or I walk like them.

I successfully researched my mother's father side and was able to obtain information…

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To celebrate Family History Month we are announcing our next three webinars:

• Blogging for Beginners with DearMYRTLE on Wednesday, October 20, 2010
• New Family History Technology with Paul Larsen on Wednesday, October 27, 2010
• Organize, Share, and Publish Your Digital Photos with Heritage Collector Suite with Marlo Schuldt on Wednesday, November 3

Join one or join all three! Registration for every webinar is free and open to anyone. Register at…

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I have a relative Mary Ryan who is buried at Beechworth Vic. She is buried with unknown people, presumably also residents of the Beechworth Mental Asylum where Mary also resided and died. The grave has been marked in recent years and I am happy to forward a photo to anyone interested. Edward Kelly d 1908 age 73 & John McDonald d 1922 age 57. Are they yours?

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There are a number of programs called aggregators. These aggregator

programs do all the work for you of going out onto the Internet and

gathering any changes in posts to websites and blogs. Google Reader and

other similar programs are also known as feed aggregators. They may also

be referred to as feed readers, news readers, or rss readers. (RSS

stands for really simple syndication). Aggregators reduce the effort

needed to check a number of blogs or websites for… Continue

Please see my new Forum post on the MA militia list of Capt. Isaac Davis' company during the Revolutionary War.

I hope someone may be able to find his/her elusive Revolutionary War ancestor!

Maddie

Fun is a serious topic. I would hesitate to even do a Google search on

fun with anything else, there would be so many responses. If our society

was judged by our advertisements, fun would be judged to be one of our

most sought after goals. Here are some of the titles of the hits found

by a search on "fun genealogy." (6,470,000 results)



A just for fun genealogy quiz

Fun stuff for genealogists

Genealogy fun time

Genealogy fun

Some favorite fun… Continue

There are many spiritual elements to writing the book In Wake of a Following, and with them, comes fear. I worry that stirring up memories from the 1950s Virgin Mary sightings will release a measure of bad karma. My investigation is a lot like descending into a dank, unlit basement. Deep down, I’m troubled. With each bad thing that happens to my loved ones – my sister’s cancer, financial stress, a recent car crash – I wonder. Is my writing obsession a catalyst of…

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I started looking for my Rufkahr ancestors about 15 years ago. Since then, I have discovered where we came from (Algermissen, Hannover, Prussia, Germany) and that there are 3 branches of the family. The Ohio branch spells their name as Rofkar (pronounced Rafker), the Missouri branch (my direct line) who spells it as Rufkahr (pronouced Roughcar) and an Arkansas branch spelled Rofkahr (pronounced Rofker). There is also an off-shoot spelling of Roughcore from my Missouri line. The family gossip…

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This is one of the best kept secrets in Texas... an all day genealogy conference, with nationally recognized speakers, and its entirely free! There are presentations on just about every topic you can imagine relating to genealogy -- its great for any level of genealogy knowledge, from beginners to advanced. I'll be lecturing on Internet Genealogy, Using Search Engines Effectively, and Finding Treasures in online Libraries… Continue