March 15, 2007

Greetings on this Ides of March! I'm having flashbacks to high school Latin class, when we wore bedsheet togas to mark the day in 44 BC Junius Brutus assassinated his former pal Julius Caesar.

While we’re observing history—happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone with even a smidge of Irish heritage. OK, and to those who are Irish only on the 17th.

Congratulations to our February Issue Quiz winners: Barbara Johnson of Eden Prairie, Minn.; Marilyn Young, Yuma, Ariz.; and Nancy Nelson, Guilford, Mo. The answers were 1) Crystal Palace; 2) Periodical Source Index; 3) Norwegian; 4) Family group, subject, time period or life cycle; we also accepted donate, toss, keep; 5) make a GEDCOM and import it into your new program. See the questions in the March 1 E-mail Update.

Finally, the May 2007 Family Tree Magazine is on sale, with articles on census research, tracing Polish roots, online genealogy and more. Get 'em while they're hot at newsstands and on FamilyTreeMagazine.com.

—Diane Haddad, Newsletter Editor
ftmnews-editor@fwpubs.com

P.S. Make sure you don't miss a single issue of your E-mail Update! Add our address (familytree-newsletter@fwpubs.com) to your e-mail-address book—your software will recognize the Update as an e-mail you want to read.
 

• Indentured Servant Search Goes Online
• Her-story
• Civil War Battlefields at Risk
• From the Forum: Surprise!, Brag Books and Hot Topics
  
• Tip of the Week: Trip Tip Sheet
  
• Worthwhile Web Sites
• Identifying Family Photographs: Couple Confusion?
  
• FamilyTreeMagazine.com Events Calendar
• Advertiser Special Offers

Indentured Servant Search Goes Online
An estimated 75 percent of Colonial-era immigrants financed their passage to America with indenture contracts—the immigrant agreed to work for an established settler in exchange for a ticket.

If your ancestor was among them, you can search the beginnings of an indentured servant database that genealogy research firm Price & Associates has posted at http://immigrantservants.com. The information comes from published sources such as indexes and biographies; eventually, it’ll cover 100,000 names.

You can search on a name, use the advanced search to add a given name or birth information, or browse. Results show the servant’s name, colony, date of birth (if known) and date of servitude. Click View by a name to see more details, such as surname variants, length of servitude, death information and the firm’s research notes—with source citations.

You can take it from there to dig up more details in those sources, but should you want professional assistance, a Learn More link explains Price & Associates’ services. The company’s Web site also offers some helpful how-to articles (click Resources).

Her-story
March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re sending a shout-out to Wyoming. It’s the first state to extend suffrage to women (1869), appoint women jurors (1870), hire a female court bailiff (1870) and elect a female governor (1924).

After a quick round of applause, explore these FamilyTreeMagazine.com offerings on researching women ancestors:

Civil War Battlefields at Risk
Sites as well-known as Gettysburg, Pa., and humble as Iuka, Miss., are on the Civil War Preservation Trust’s ( http://www.civilwar.org ) 2007 list of 10 most-endangered Civil War battlefields. Threats include residential and commercial development, installation of power lines and damage from hurricane Katrina.

The other sites on the Trust’s list are:

• Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
• Spring Hill, Tenn.
• Cedar Creek, Va.
• Fort Morgan, Ala.
• Marietta, Ga.
• New Orleans Forts, La.
• Northern Piedmont region, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia
  
• Petersburg, Va.

See http://www.civilwar.org/PressReleases/PressDetail.asp?lngPressID=142 for more details on the dangers to each of these sites.

Surprise!
How would you answer this Forum question from Jknancy06? "I'm curious to know what unusual discoveries genealogists out there have found about their families, especially things they didn't expect to find and other relatives didn't know about."
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=205&posts=3&start=1

Brag Book
Got a favorite genealogy book? Of course you do. Maybe it'll be the answer to someone else's brick wall—write a review on the Forum and tell us how it's helped you.
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/forum/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=4

Hot Topics
Two hopping discussions on the Forum cover the National Archives' proposed 300-plus percent copy price increases and the state of genealogical societies. We want to hear your views! Chime in under Hot Topics.
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/forum/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=20

Trip Tip Sheet

This tip comes from Mimi Malcom on the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum:

I create individual sheets listing information to look for on library trips. I have sheets for different states, and for counties within those states. I keep them in a folder on my desktop where I can add or delete information as I find it, and I have copies on my laptop. This helps me focus on what I'm missing in my research and stops me from getting distracted when I'm at a library.

We sort through the oodles of family history Web sites to bring you the best. Here's one that could be a big help with your Irish research:

NewEnglandAncestors.org
http://www.newenglandancestors.org
Databases on the New England Historic Genealogy Society site are usually members-only, but in honor of St. Patrick's Day, you can access several Irish databases free  for a limited time. The site also offers a Web cast on getting started in Irish genealogy. Link to both features from the home page. 

Couple Confusion?

Debra MacLaughlan-Dumes posted links to her unidentified photos in the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Photo Detective Forum. Let's see if we can figure out whether the images show the same couple at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/current.htm.

Maureen A. Taylor is a photo historian and author of Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs, 2nd edition (Family Tree Books, $24.99).

If you have a family photo mystery for Taylor to solve, post links to them on the Photo Detective Forum or check out our Submission Guidelines at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/photohelp.htm.

Brigham Young University Computerized Genealogy Conference
March 16-17, Provo, Utah

Friday, Family Tree Magazine author and computer guru Rick Crume speaks on "A Beginner’s Guide to Online Genealogy."

For more details on this and other upcoming genealogy and living history events, visit our online calendar. You can publicize your group’s events, too! You must be registered with the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum to post.

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May 2007 Issue

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