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Learn > Articles & Columns > Daily News > Current Article
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
| July 6, 1998 |
- More On The Learning Company In last week’s newsletter I wrote about The Learning Company’s announced plans to purchase Broderbund, producers of both Family Tree Maker and also Family Origins. I speculated whether The Learning Company would continue to produce and sell two somewhat competitive programs as Broderbund has. I also wrote about the history of these two programs. Several companies were involved, each of which was eventually bought out by another company. This "lineage" is a bit convoluted, so I joked, "I need a genealogy program just to keep track of this lineage!" The joke is on me. There is even more to the story than what I knew last week. Several people sent e-mails this week telling me of an earlier purchase by The Learning Company that I was unaware of: some months ago The Learning Company purchased Mindscape, Inc. The ironic twist is that in the March 28, 1998 edition of this newsletter, I reported that Mindscape had acquired the rights to Family Heritage, a program produced by IMSI. In fact, IMSI had purchased that program a few months earlier from Corel, where it was known as Corel Family Tree Suite. In addition, Mindscape has announced that they are updating the program and changing the name to Family Tree Creator (see the next article for more details). OK, I won’t repeat the whole story here, but here is the bottom line. Once The Learning Company completes its acquisition of Broderbund, it will own three separate and somewhat competitive genealogy programs: Family Tree Creator produced by their Mindscape division, Family Origins produced by their Parsons Technology Division and Family Tree Maker produced by the Broderbund division. The Broderbund division also produces many genealogy CD-ROM disks, a business originally purchased from Banner Blue, who had earlier purchased it from Automated Archives. Collectively, these various products have been sold in the past under seven different corporate names (and I think an eighth company, Intuit, was even involved for a short time. However, that seems to be a minor footnote). Now you see why I really do need a genealogy program to track this corporate family tree.
- The Learning Company’s Agreement With Ancestry.com Not only is The Learning Company acquiring other companies and genealogy programs, but it also is entering into new partnerships with still other genealogy-related companies. Ancestry, Inc. released the following announcement this week: The Learning Company and its Mindscape division will be sponsoring Ancestry.com's Genealogy Software Channel for their upcoming Family Tree Creator Deluxe product, a CD-ROM toolkit for researching, preserving, and presenting your lineage. "This partnership with Ancestry.com positions Family Tree Creator Deluxe as an aggressive and serious competitor in the genealogy category," said Eric Stone, vice president for product marketing at Mindscape. The Source, Ancestry's best-selling genealogy reference, is included in Family Tree Creator Deluxe, as are Ancestry's Red Book and the Social Security Death Index, a database of more than 55 million deceased individuals. Family Tree Creator Deluxe also includes a preprogrammed link to Ancestry.com, the Web's leading site for genealogical information, and a free one month membership for unlimited access to the many genealogical resources available at Ancestry.com. Family Tree Creator Deluxe includes thousands of pieces of art, borders, backgrounds, photos, and fonts that make it easy to present beautiful family trees that will be cherished by future generations. I hope to write a review of Family Tree Creator Deluxe as soon as it is available.
- Genealogical Computing Magazine’s Summer Edition I wear several hats in addition to being author of this newsletter. One other position that I really enjoy is that of editor of Genealogical Computing magazine. Thanks to the hard work of Catherine Horman and a number of people at Ancestry, Inc., the summer edition went out even a bit earlier than I had planned. The articles in the summer edition include: "From GEDCOM to a Web Page" by Alan E. Mann – a detailed look at several programs that will convert a GEDCOM file to HTML files that are suitable to uploading to a personal home page. "Book Notes" by Catherine Horman – reviews of four brand-new books about online genealogy information. "Boolean Searching on AltaVista" by Michael John Neill -- a step-by-step tutorial on using AltaVista’s advanced search techniques. The information shown here can be used for any topic, but Michael focuses on how to locate the genealogy you want among the hundreds of thousands of genealogy Web pages now online. "The Master Genealogist 3.5 Windows Upgrade" by Art Rubeck – a detailed examination of what’s new in the latest release of this powerhouse program. "Case in Point: A Look at the Bewildering World of Internet Capitalization and Punctuation" by Drew Smith – Is it upper case or lower case? Forward slash or backslash? Is that a space? Drew provides detailed guidance on how to make sure you are typing the proper characters. "Hands On" is a collection of four brief articles on advanced use of Family Tree Maker, Generations, The Master Genealogist and Legacy. "Passenger Lists and Baptismal Records on CD-ROM" by Betty Clay – an in-depth review of CD-ROM disks produced by Digital Archives of Colorado, Inc. This company is producing disks containing scanned images of original passenger lists from a number of ports of entry. Betty wrote about the good points and bad points of these products, and she has included quite a few screen shots showing examples of the information you can display on your computer’s screen. "Interview with Ray Madsen" by Jake Gehring – Ray Madsen is Product Manager for the LDS Church’s new Family History SourceGuide. In this interview Ray talks about the data available on this CD-ROM disk. He also talks about a number of other products recently released by the Mormon Church or under development for future release. I might add that interviewer Jake Gehring is the previous editor of Genealogical Computing and I am delighted to see him still contributing articles to the magazine. "Locating Cemeteries via Satellite Technology" by Dick Eastman – I wrote this article about my use of both a CD-ROM database and a 9-ounce Global Positioning System receiver to find tiny cemeteries. Consumer-grade GPS receivers can guide you to any location on earth with a maximum error of plus or minus 100 meters (about 300 feet). That is the maximum error; most of the time they will put you within 100 feet of the location you seek. I have used my GPS receiver to locate tiny cemeteries that are not easily found otherwise. "Genealogical Computing’s Hot websites" compiled by Juliana Szucs Smith – Juliana found a bunch of great websites, most of them brand new. "Think Before You Generate" by Patricia Law Hatcher – An opinion piece that I wish I could give to every beginning genealogist. Patricia tells why you need to check your facts before placing your genealogy data online. "There Are Some Things a Computer Can’t Do" by Candace L. Doriott – An article that proposes, "Let’s focus on what is really important." After reading the above list of articles and noting the names of distinguished authors, you can see why I am proud of this edition. If you would like to subscribe to Genealogical Computing, set your Web browser to: http://www.ancestry.com/gencomp/index.htm. By the way, you can also find a number of articles from past editions at that same address.
-Free Military Databases For The Fourth Of July If I might offer one more article involving Ancestry, Inc., the company is making a lot of their databases available to everyone this Fourth of July weekend. Here is the full announcement: To honor those who fought for our freedom, Ancestry will allow FREE access to the following databases:
To access these databases go to: http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/search.asp. Then go to "Other Free Databases" in the top section, and select the database of your choice. These databases will remain free through Monday, July 6. Happy Independence Day from all of us at Ancestry.com!
- Newspaper Genealogy Columns to be Listed Kevin Sellew is the president of the Mobile (Alabama) Genealogical Society. He and the Society have an interesting project underway. Here is a "cut-and-paste" from an e-mail he sent: I am working on a new "room" on the website of the Mobile (Alabama) Genealogical Society. It's called THE NEWS STAND and is a listing of (and links to) genealogy columns which appear in newspapers around the world that accept queries and announcements. I looked around the web and could not find any *one* online place where you could find information on all these columns. It seemed to me that it was time that this "void" was filled. I started out with the intention of listing only those columns which were geographically close to Mobile, but I received listings from far-and-away and, after some contemplation, decided that since MGS members have ancestry *everywhere*, it would serve our membership to include listings from areas far removed from the Gulf Coast. If that information also benefits other Internet surfing genealogists -- all the better. This message is a request for assistance from the online genealogical community. I need you to tell me about the genealogy columns that appear in your local newspaper(s) so that I can create a comprehensive listing for them in THE NEWS STAND. What we like to include in each listing is... 1. the name of the column Now, BEFORE you e-mail me your responses, PLEASE visit THE NEWS STAND first. The column you want to tell me about might already be there. Some of the listings are incomplete. I would appreciate help in "filling in the blanks" as well as information about columns which are not currently listed. The Cyber Lobby for the MGS website can be found at... http://www.siteone.com/clubs/mgs. Scroll down to, and click on, THE NEWS STAND. Please do not bookmark THE NEWS STAND. Please always enter our site via the Cyber Lobby as that's where our counter is. More importantly, though, as THE NEWS STAND get larger, I will have to break it up into smaller pieces and this will cause the web address(es) to change. So, please just bookmark the Lobby.
- World’s Largest Family To Hold a Reunion A family with almost 100 million members worldwide is holding a family reunion in Boston this week. Not all family members are expected to show up. I don’t believe there are that many hotel rooms in Boston! However, nearly 500 Lees, representing more than 20 chapters of the Lee Family Association throughout the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, are meeting this week for their last family reunion of the millennium. Lee (which is often spelled Li when using the European alphabet) recently edged out Chang (or Zhang) as the largest surname in China, and, therefore, the world. The family is so big that it even has its own credit union worth 22 million dollars. It also maintains an extensive array of real estate holdings. It's all part of keeping things in the family, said Yon Lee, English secretary of the Lee Family Association of New England. The Lees are serious about their claim of relatedness. They say they are all descended from the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism, who lived 2,500 years ago. The family traces their origins back to the Tang dynasty, about 1,300 years ago, when an emperor named Lee bestowed his surname upon favored subjects. The family stories state that, at that time, it was an honor to be a Lee. The emperor said, "If you're loyal to me, good soldier, I give you the name Lee." It is considered taboo to marry another Lee. "Technically speaking, when you're married to a Lee, you're not expanding. You're downsizing. You have to bring other surnames into the flock," said Yon Lee. The Lee Family Association dates back to the 1800s, when Chinese arrived in the United States to work on the transcontinental railroad. In a hostile foreign environment, Chinese of similar backgrounds or surnames formed social support organizations. "The family association acted like an extended family," said Wilson Lee, president of the New England chapter. The associations provided emigrants with everything from food to shelter to medical treatment. If a Lee passed away, they would arrange to have the remains sent home. Even in the 1990s the Lee Family Association helps new immigrants become established in their newly-adopted countries.
The Upcoming Events section of the newsletter is published once per month. Each event will be listed very briefly: title, date(s), location, and sponsoring organization, all followed by either an e-mail address or a Web page that you can use to find more information. Since detailed information is available via e-mail or the Web, I will not list the details in this newsletter. If you do contact any of these organizations, please tell them where you heard about the event. Here are the listings, arranged by date: A Melungeon Gathering: A four-day conference and celebration of Appalachia's rich ethnic diversity and heritage to include genealogical workshops, computer-based research, scholarly presentations, folklore, culture, and family history. July 9-12, 1998 in Clinch Valley College, Wise, VA. For info, contact: cclark@compunet.net The Hodges-Wheeler Family Reunion (descendants of George Washington Hodges and Manlove Wheeler) will be held July 9-12, 1998 in Colorado Springs, CO. For information, send an e-mail to: MoWorks@aol.com or khodges@usa.net. The thirty-fourth annual Smith Hedrick reunion will be held in Jonesboro, Arkansas July 10 and 11. This reunion is for descendants of James Smith (1630?-1676) and his wife Joane. For more information contact dalemc@insolwwb.com. The James Prince (b.1859 in England) Family is celebrating the 100 Anniversary of their arrival in Canada on July 10, 11, and 12, 1998. The reunion will be held near Glenwood and Hillspring, Alberta, Canada. Details are available from: docjr@hotmail.com The German Interest Group of Janesville, WI and the Area Research Center of UW-Whitewater are hosting a German Genealogy Workshop on July 11, 1998 at Whitewater, WI. For information, send an e-mail to: herrickd@inwave.com. A reunion of the descendants of Tor Arneson & Kari Eiriksdatter, who emigrated to Dane County, Wisconsin and Boone Co, Illinois, will be held July 11 at Flandreau, South Dakota. Details are available from: pawalker@sd.cybernex.net. The Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles will hold a seminar July 12-17, 1998. The theme is "Hollywood Chai." Information is available at: http://www.jewishgen.org/jgsla. The fourth annual Genealogical Institute of Mid-America will be held in Springfield, Illinois 13-16 July 1998. This is a four day series of classes. Information may be found at: http://www.tbox.com/isgs/institute.html. The National Institute of Genealogical Research focuses on federal records of genealogical value during a study program July 13 through 18. http://www.rootsweb.com/~natgenin/. The Family Jordan descendants of Rev. Robert and Sarah Winter Jordan will hold a reunion July 16 through 19 in Portland, Maine. They hope to build a huge family tree in their computer. For information, send an e-mail to: njordan@worldnet.att.net. The Third Bi-annual SLOPER Family Reunion is to be held at Champoeg State Park, Oregon on July 16, 17 & 18, 1998. For more information. contact: slopertaylor@sprynet.com. 4th annual Crandall Family Assoc. reunion in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, 18 July 1998. Details are available at: http://www.cfa.net/cfa/reunion.html. The 34th Annual National Aldrich Association Reunion will be held July 18 & 19 in Swazey, NH. Details are on the National Aldrich Association Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Marina/2343. The descendants James Wesley Conaway and his sons will hold a reunion in Rolla, MO on July 18, 1998. Details are available from: janrick@swbell.net. Newville Family Reunion will be held in Cumberland, Wisconsin on July 19, 1998. Details may be obtained from: JHubin@aol.com. The DRAGOO Family Reunion will be held July 23-26, 1998 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. For details, contact vparsons@inreach.com. The 42nd Annual Meeting of the Livesay Historical Society will be held in Fort Wayne, Indiana from July 24th through the 26th, 1998. Details are available at: http://members.aol.com/lhsociety/livesay.html A reunion of the descendants of Patrick, Francis and James Murphy of Lowell, VT, will be held on Sunday, 26 July 1998, in Lowell, VT. For more information, contact: bmurphy@plainfield.bypass.com. The Dallas Genealogical Society will present the Institute of Genealogical Studies on 26-31 July 1998 in Dallas, TX. Details are available at: http://www.cyberramp.net/~igs. Foote Family Reunion: The descendants of Isaac Foote (b. ca 1800) of Abbeville Co, SC will hold their biennial reunion in Buffalo, NY the weekend of July 31 - August 2. Information is available from: scabbegen@aol.com EVERETT family reunion will take place August 1 & 2, 1998 in Meridian, Mississippi. For more information, contact Gale Goodall GNRN39B@prodigy.com Jacob Mica Truman Family Association reunion, August 1, 1998, in Enterprise, Utah. For information send email to: pprice32@slkc.uswest.net. Ninety-fifth annual reunion of the Samuel Jr. and Mahala Wallace FARR family [NC to Indiana} will be held in Farrville, Indiana, on August 2, 1998,. For information contact: lawlcvf@Juno.com. Ostrander Family Reunion will be held on Aug 7, 8 and 9,1998 in Holland, Michigan. Please contact KJakel1021@aol.com or a.wolven@mach7.com. The Genealogical Computing Association of Pennsylvania (GenCAP) will hold a meeting Aug. 8, 1998 in Bally, PA. Information is available at: http://www.libertynet.org/gencap. Doane Family Reunion in Buzzards Bay, MA from August 10 to 15, 1998. See http://www.doane.edu/dfa/dfa2. The 1998 Germans From Russia Heritage Society (GRHS) Convention will be held August 13-16, 1998 in Bismarck, North Dakota. For additional information visit the GRHS site at: http://www.grhs.com/. The descendants of Thomas Griffee (1850-1932) will hold their 4th Quinquennial Family Reunion at Custer State Park, South Dakota on August 13-15, 1998. Details are available from: rwilderj@whidbey.net. The BOLLES Family Association, descendants of Joseph Bolles of Wells, Maine (1640) and his allied lines, will be hosting it's 21st Annual Reunion/Meeting August 14,15 and 16, 1998 in Parsippany, New Jersey. For details contact Bob251@aol.com or rbolles@micro.com. The Matteson Historical Congress of America, Inc. will hold the 1998 Reunion in Fort Wayne, Indiana August 14, 15 and 16. For information, send an e-mail to: FibncciSrC@aol.com The Rawson Family Association will hold its eighty third annual reunion in Rawsonville, Vermont on August 15, 1998. For details, send an e-mail to: johnrawson@yahoo.com Buker Reunion - The 50th Annual Reunion of the descendants of Isreal Hilton Buker will be held on August 16, 1998 at Seaquest State Park, east of Castle Rock, Washington. For details, send e-mail to: noble2@open.org Steele Family Reunion, for descendants of James Lewis Steele and Nancy Jane Gillespie of Putnam Co. WV will be held Aug 16 1998 in Nitro, WV. For information send e-mail to BJ5841@worldnet.att.net. Annual Conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, August 19 through 22, 1998, Cincinnati, Ohio, details are available at: http://www.fgs.org. The descendants of Timothy A Moore and Margaret English will hold a Moore Family Reunion on August 23, 1998 in Freehold, NJ. Information is available from: mbayone@aol.com. The British Isles Family History Society - U.S.A. will feature David E. Rencher, Alan Mann, and Paul Milner at its 11th Annual Family History Seminar, August 27 through 29. Information is at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~bifhsusa. The Ulster Historical Foundation will hold the eighth family history conference in its Searching for that Elusive Irish Ancestor series. This will be held Sept. 1 through 8, 1998 in Belfast and Dublin. Details are at: http://www.uhf.org.uk/confrncf.htm. A Holt family reunion (descendants of King David Holt and Alice Newman) will be held in Richardson, Texas Memorial Day Weekend. For information , contact: VJac363771@aol.com. The annual PIXLEY family reunion in Ft. Smith, Arkansas will be held on Labor Day. Information is available from: Sewngo01@aol.com. The annual "Homecoming" Reunion of the Chambers family (descendants of Edmund Chambers and his wife Patiana, Wilkes County, NC) will be held on Sept 5th and 6th at Glen Eden, Kentucky. For more information, please e-mail MammaGLL@AOL.Com The Goble Family Association is holding a "family reunion" scheduled for September 6, 1998 in Blue Springs, Missouri. Details are available at: http://members.aol.com/goblenews/homepage/reunion.htm The British Isles Family Society of Greater Ottawa will hold its annual fall conference September 18 - 20, 1998 in Ottawa, Ontario. For information, look at: http://www.cyberus.ca/~bifhsgo/Conference.htm. The Genealogical Council of Oregon's 5th Statewide Genealogy Conference will be held September 18-20, 1998 in Eugene, Oregon, hosted by the Oregon Genealogical Society. This looks like a major convention. For program and registration materials contact: LinLouVan@aol.com The September 19, 1998: Computers in Genealogy Conference, Cyncoed College, University of Wales, Cardiff. Organized by the Society of Genealogists and Glamorgan FH Society. Full day of talks, demos, workshops & sales. For further information, send an e-mail to Eric Probert at: EricDProbert@compuserve.com. The Simon Kenton Festival and Kenton Kin Reunion is an annual event that is held in Old Washington, Mason County, KY, during the week-end of Sept. 19 and 20. Details are at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~daisy/kenton.htm The American-Canadian Genealogical Society will hold their twenty-fifth anniversary convention in Manchester, NH September 24 through 27. Many programs and special events are planned. For details, send an e-mail to: PCusson@worldnet.att.net The Virginia Genealogical Society's Fall Conference will be held September 26, 1998 in Staunton, VA. It will include programs for German and Scotch-Irish research, as well as special sessions for beginners. For details, see http://www.vgs.org The Heritage Hunters of Saratoga County will sponsor a genealogical seminar on Wednesday September 30, 1998 in Saratoga Springs, New York. For registration information, contact: zetter@juno.com Nims Family Association-Descendants of Godfrey Nims (1650-1704) of Deerfield, MA will meet Saturday, October 3, 1998 in Deerfield, MA. For further information contact: John Schultz at aa157@freenet.buffalo.edu Descendants and cousins of James Buchanan (1763-1841) and wife Lucinda East Buchanan (1792-1865) will meet in Nashville, Tennessee on October 3, 1998. E-mail whit@jas-net.de or whit@thepentagon.com The Elgin Genealogical Society will hold the 8th Annual Chester Bowser Memorial Program on Oct. 3, 1998. For information contact bpartridge@foxvalley.net The Eastern Washington Genealogical Society’s Annual Fall Workshop will be held Oct 3, 1998. Details are at: http://www.onlinepub.net/ewgs Whitworth Family Association Conference will be held 7 to 11 October 1998 in St Louis, Mo. Send e-mail to: whit@jas-net.de Alford American Family Association, Inc. will hold its 1998 national Alford (Alvord, Halford, etc.) reunion in Paducah, KY October 9-11. Details are available from: GAlford1@compuserve.com. The descendants of Isaac Lesesne, Huguenot immigrant to Daniel Island, Charleston, SC, about 1684 will hold a family reunion October 10, 1998 For further information, send e-mail to: llesesne@bellsouth.net. The Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc. is holding a seminar on interpreting, dating, and preserving your old family photographs will be held on Saturday, October 10, 1998, in Plano, TX. Details are at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/4167 The Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Family History Conference, sponsored by the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society, will be held in Madison on October 23 & 24, 1998. For information, send e-mail to: jbrissee@execpc.com The Puerto Rican/Hispanic Society and the Sociedad Puertorriquena Genealogica are presenting a conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Tentative dates are October 22 through October 25, 1998. For information, contact: Miguel_J_Hernandez@compuserve.com Fifth New England Regional Genealogical Conference, October 23-25, 1998 in Portland, Maine: http://users.rootsweb.com/~maplymou/conf/confmain.htm The 4th Annual Kemp Family Association Reunion and Business Meeting will be held in Dallas, Texas October 23rd-25th 1998. Details can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/1926/kfaharvy.html The 5th annual Carey/Cary Family Organization reunion will be held on October 24-25, 1998, in Ocean City, Maryland. For information, send an e-mail to: Amagnolia@aol.com The Genealogical Computing Association of Pennsylvania (GenCAP) will hold a meeting Nov. 14, 1998 in Philadelphia, PA. Information is available at: http://www.libertynet.org/gencap Brown/McNatt/Richards Reunion, Aug 7, 1999 in Clayton, Delaware, Details are available from: mbluehen@sensible-net.com If you would like to see your event listed, send an e-mail to: meetings@rootscomputing.com. You must include either a Web page that gives details or an e-mail address for the organization or for someone within the organization who is willing to supply the meeting details upon request. Please limit your listings to events where you expect 100 or more people to attend.
The following is a list of some of the genealogy-related World Wide Web home pages that have been listed recently on http://www.rootscomputing.com. Some of these sites may charge a fee for their services:
To submit your home page to this newsletter, enter the necessary information at: http://www.rootscomputing.com/register.htm. Due to the volume of new Web pages submitted, I am not able to list all of them in the newsletter.
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