This Weekend Only: 4th of July Blowout!

From the Genealogical Publishing Company:

This Weekend Only!

Fourth of July Blowout!

This week our "Today Only" sale has been extended throughout the holiday weekend. To mark this year's July 4th celebration, we are discounting 13 of our best Revolutionary War books by 40% or more below the original retail price. From battles along the Upper Ohio to the Carolinas, from pension lists to bounty land grants and state service records, our Independence Day Sale has something to offer virtually anyone having an interest in the Revolutionary War and its genealogy. These sale prices will remain in effect until midnight EDT, July 4, 2011. Scroll down and see if you don't agree that our Independence Day Sale is simply too good to miss!

Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants Awarded by State Governments The nine states that awarded bounty land created a patchwork of records, and it was therefore no easy task to create this master index. Typically, however, each entry in this index contains the name of the claimant, who is usually the veteran, the state of service, the rank held, the date of the record, and the acreage. Altogether about 35,000 names appear in the index, including duplicates. Was $50.00   Now $29.95

Virginia Soldiers of 1776. Compiled from Documents . . . in the Virginia Land Office. Three Volumes This work is based on bounty warrants, military certificates, exchange warrants, and land vouchers that establish absolute proof of Virginia Revolutionary War service and descent of bounty land. Annexed to these claims are certificates of heirship, wills, and powers of attorney, and dates of birth and death and place of residence of the Revolutionary soldier. Further information includes the number of the warrant, exact number of acres granted, and date issued. Was $150.00/set    Now $89.95/set

American Migrations 1765-1799. The lives, times, and families of colonial Americans who remained loyal to the British Crown before, during and after the Revolutionary War . . . This work is based on the records of the American Claims Commission, which was responsible for compensating Loyalists for loss of land and property as a result of action taken against them before, during, and after the Revolutionary War. In all, the author has transcribed 5,800 individual claims--the entire contents of the papers of the Claims Commission. Of the 15,000 individuals recorded in this work, some three-quarters took up residence outside the United States after 1783--hence the title of the work--but the remainder, including many who had been classed as Loyalists, became honorable citizens of the new Republic. Was $85.00    Now $49.95

Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution, April 1775 to December 1783 This is the standard reference work on the officers of the Revolutionary War, containing an alphabetically arranged list, with service records, of 14,000 officers of the Continental Army, including many officers of the Militia and State Troops who served during the Revolution. The information given includes the soldier's rank, dates of service, when and where wounded, taken prisoner, exchanged, or killed, etc., with the name of the state in which service was rendered and a designation of company and command. Was $49.95    Now $29.95

West Virginians in the American Revolution The Revolutionary War soldiers identified in this work lived at one time or another in what is now the State of West Virginia, their military duties having been discharged in the service of other states. The data given for each soldier typically includes the name, age, date of birth, service record, date pension applied for and granted, place of residence, names of wife and children, and comrades-in-arms. Was $29.50    Now $17.50

Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland. Troops in the American Revolution, 1775-1783 This is the standard on the more than 20,000 Maryland troops in the Revolutionary War. The records drawn on for this compilation derive chiefly from muster rolls, payrolls, and Land Office records, thus rendering evidence of unassailable authority for Continental service in the American Revolution. The book generally includes full name, rank, dates of enlistment and discharge, and miscellaneous remarks such as whether wounded, killed, or missing. Was $60.00    Now $34.95

Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution. In Two Volumes Now available in two volumes, this paperback work ties up the whole elusive body of documents and printed sources related to the more than 20,000 rank and file South Carolina soldiers who made up the battle lines in an untold number of skirmishes with the British and the Tories. The information is arranged in paragraph form under the name of the soldier and includes some or all of the following details: dates of enlistment, service, battles, and skirmishes; names of commanding officers; names or designation of military unit; rank attained; notations indicating whether the soldier was wounded, killed or taken prisoner; source citations; and, in the case of data deriving from federal pension files or state annuity claims, dates and places of birth and death, names of wives and children, and places of residence before and after the War. Was $80.00    Now $47.95

Roster of Soldiers from North Carolina in the American Revolution The most complete military roster for the state, this monumental work contains the names of approximately 36,000 soldiers from North Carolina who served during the Revolution. Service records include such information as rank, company, date of enlistment or commission, period of service, combat experience, and whether captured, wounded, or killed. Was $52.50    Now $30.00

Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama This alphabetical list of Alabama's Revolutionary War soldiers, with genealogical information such as age, place of residence, rank, line, and, in some cases, names of wives, dates of marriage, and names of children, is the premier sourcebook on its subject. Was $16.50    Now $9.50

The Pension Roll of 1835. In Four Volumes The Pension Roll of 1835 is the most complete roll of Revolutionary War pensioners ever published. Compiled by the War Department under Senate resolutions of 1834-35 from lists of pensioners who had been enrolled under all previous acts of Congress, as well as from replacement records for those lists of pensioners that had been destroyed in fires at the War Department in 1801 and 1814, it contains the names and service records of approximately 60,700 soldiers, both regulars and militia. Was $250.00/set   Now $149.95/set

Frontier Retreat on the Upper Ohio, 1779-1781 This collection of original documents chronicles two critical years of the Revolutionary War along the western frontier of the United States. The central figure in the book is Col. Daniel Brodhead, the commandant at Fort Pitt. Most of the action described in the correspondence and other documents unfolds in the frontier communities of Fort Pitt, Fort Vincennes, Detroit, Wheeling, and other places in western Pennsylvania, southwestern Virginia, and Kentucky. Genealogists will find numerous references to the thousands of settlers who flocked into the region at this time, despite the threat of Indian reprisal. Was $45.00    Now $25.95

Some Tennessee Heroes of the Revolution Based on the Invalid Lists of 1806 and the Pension Lists of 1818, 1832, and 1840, this book supplies--in addition to name, age, service, residence, and source of information--the date of the pension application, date and place of birth, service record, names of all family members cited in the pension statement, and place or places of migration to, from, or within Tennessee. Was $20.00    Now $11.95

"Death Seem'd to Stare": The New Hampshire and Rhode Island Regiments at Valley Forge Joseph Boyle's informative Introduction to this work traces the service of the New Hampshire and Rhode Island regiments before and after they joined General Washington in November 1777. The core of the book consists of an alphabetical list in excess of 2,500 New Hampshire and Rhode Island soldiers abstracted from Revolutionary War muster and payrolls. Each patriot is identified by name, rank, date, and term of enlistment or commission, names of regiment and company, and a variety of supporting details, such as date of furlough or discharge, when wounded, when and where promoted, etc. Was $22.50    Now $12.95

June 2011 Scanfest

Today Only! Web Specials from Genealogical.com

From the Genealogical Publishing Company:

This week, for one day only, we are once again offering a 40% or more discount on three best-selling genealogical publications. Between now and 11:59 p.m. EDT on Friday, June 24, 2011, you can purchase Wayland F. Dunaway's The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania; George Elmore Reaman's The Trail of the Huguenots in Europe, the United States, South Africa and Canada; and our Family Archive CD Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly on our website at huge savings. Hurry--the sale only lasts one day, and is only available online at www.genealogical.com.

The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania The best history of the Scotch-Irish of colonial Pennsylvania ever written, Dunaway's classic is indispensable to the genealogist because it outlines the circumstances behind the settlement of Lowland Scots in Ulster, their life in that Province for two or three generations, and the reasons for their immigration to America, further tracing the important migratory movements of the Scotch-Irish from Northern Ireland to Pennsylvania, and from Pennsylvania down the foothills of the Appalachians through the Great Valley of Virginia to the Carolinas and Georgia. Was $25.00 Today Only $14.95 Learn More

The Trail of the Huguenots This is the story of the great exodus of the Huguenots from France at the end of the seventeenth century, and of their dispersal to places in Europe, the United States, Canada, and South Africa. It traces their migrations through Europe and across the Atlantic to Canada and the United States, providing startling insights into the origins of many of our earliest colonial settlers. Over half of the book is devoted to the Huguenots and their direct descendants in Canada and the United States, dealing with those who settled in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. Was $32.50 Today Only $18.95 Learn More

Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly This Family Archive CD contains images of the pages of all four volumes of Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly and the multi-volume Virginia Colonial Abstracts by Beverley Fleet. The four-volume collection from Tyler's Quarterly contains all 350 family history articles published in the magazine from its inception in 1919 until its demise in 1952. It further includes Bible records and wills, as well as a very important group of articles published under the title "Copies of Extant Wills from Counties Whose Records Have Been Destroyed." Was $39.99 Today Only $22.99 Learn More

Remember, these three outstanding works are on sale for One Day Only, and only at www.genealogical.com. The sale ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT Friday, June 24, 2011.

Scanfest is Coming!

The June 2011 Scanfest will take place here at AnceStories this coming Sunday, June 26th, from 11 AM to 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time. 
 
What is Scanfest? It's a time when geneabloggers, family historians, and family archivists meet online here at this blog to chat while they scan their precious family document and photos. Why? Because, quite honestly, scanning is time-consuming and boring!

Scanfest is a great time to "meet" other genealogists, ask questions about scanning and preservation, and get the kick in the pants we all need on starting those massive scanning projects that just seem too overwhelming to begin.

To get started, you need to know the basics about scanning:

1. Don't use commercial glass cleaners (i.e. Windex) or paper towels to clean your scanner's glass plate. Use a soft, clean cloth, preferably microfiber. If you must use a liquid, use water sprayed directly onto the cloth  and make sure to let the plate dry thoroughly before placing photos or documents on it.

2. Wear cotton gloves (available at many art and/or photography supply shops) when handling photos and old documents.

3. Don't slide the photos around on the glass plate. Place them exactly where you want them. Photos should NEVER be scanned by a scanner that feeds the document through the machine, but ALWAYS on a flat-bed scanner.

4. Set your scanner to scan at no smaller than 300 dpi (dots per inch). Many experts recommend 600 dpi for photographs.

5. Photographs should ALWAYS be scanned and saved as .tif files. Use "Save As" to reformat the .tif file to a .jpg file for restoration and touchups, emailing, or uploading to an online photo album. ALWAYS retain the original scan as a .tif file.

6. Documents can be scanned as .pdf files or .tif files.

7. When you are done scanning your photos, don't put them back in those nasty "magnetic" photo albums. Place them in archival safe albums or boxes found at websites such as Archival Products or Archival Suppliers. Do NOT store any newsprint (articles, obituaries, etc.) with the photos. The acid from the newspaper will eventually destroy the photograph.

Now about the chatting part of Scanfest:

We will be using Cover It Live, a live blogging format that you access right here at AnceStories.

On Sunday at 11 AM, PDT, come right here to AnceStories and you'll see the CoverItLive live blog/forum in the top post. It's not really a "chat room," per se, it's more like a live forum and anyone visiting this site can read and see what is happening in the forum.

You will not need to download any software.

Up to 25 individuals can be invited to be Producers. Producers are participants who have the extra capability of sharing photos, links, and other media within the forum (great for sharing the photos you're scanning!). You must have Internet Explorer 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ to be a Producer.

We can also have up to 25 other Participants who can comment freely in our conversation, but will not be able to share media. You can have any kind of browser to be a Participant, except AOL. Those who normally access the Internet with AOL may wish to download Firefox or Explorer ahead of time to be able to participate on CoverItLive.

In addition, any other readers of this blog can drop on by and view/read what is happening at Scanfest. If the 25 Participant spaces are full, those readers will not be able to comment, unless someone else drops out.

Confused? Have questions? Go to CoverItLive and check out 6. Try It Now to see live blogs in action or 7. Demos to see videos demonstrating how to use CIT (especially the ones titled "How do my readers watch my Live Blog?" and "Adding Panelists and Producers").

If you would like to be a Producer, please e-mail me no later than Saturday, June 25th at 4 PM, PDT and I'll send you an invitation. Preference will given to previous Scanfesters. You must set up an account (free!) ahead of time to be a Producer. This account will be good for all future Scanfests. You can do some practices ahead of time by going to My Account and clicking on the link under Practice your live blogging. Again, you must have IE 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ to be a Panelist.

As a Producer, Participant or simply a reader, if you would like an e-mail reminder for Scanfest, fill out the form below and choose the time frame for which you would like to be reminded (if you're reading this through Google Reader, Bloglines, or some other RSS feed reader, you will need to go to my blog and view this post there to see and utilize the form).

It really is easier than it sounds, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all there and getting some scanning done!

May 2011 Scanfest

News from Google News Archive and Chronicling America

Have you visited my Online Historical Newspapers website, or its corresponding blog? I created it to help genealogists and other researchers find digitized newspapers for their locations of research. Here's some news that highlights two major digitization projects:

 Google News Archive is ending their newspaper digitization project:

We work closely with newspaper partners on a number of initiatives, and as part of the Google News Archives digitization program we collaborated to make older newspapers accessible and searchable online. These have included publications like the London Advertiser in 1895, L’Ami du Lecteur at the turn of the century, and the Milwaukee Sentinel from 1910 to 1995.

Users can continue to search digitized newspapers at http://news.google.com/archivesearch, but we don’t plan to introduce any further features or functionality to the Google News Archives and we are no longer accepting new microfilm or digital files for processing. [Hat tip to John D. Reid of Anglo-Celtic Connections]

A link to browse individual historical titles is at http://news.google.com/newspapers, and from there you can search the individual newspaper. I will continue to add these titles to my Online Historical Newspapers website. It does take time, and I am currently nearly finished with the titles beginning with the letter A.

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Meanwhile, the Library of Congress' Chronicling America project continues in full swing:

Last week, the Library of Congress updated the Chronicling America Web site with more than 230,000 additional newspaper pages in various titles. The site now provides access to more than 3.7 million searchable newspaper pages from 506 newspaper titles, published in 22 states and the District of Columbia between 1860 and 1922.

These titles are also being added and updated on my site. Keeps me busy!

Book Review: A Better Place

I was excited to recently be given an opportunity to review A Better Place: Death and Burial in Nineteenth-Century Ontario by Susan Smart. Ontario is an ancestral location for at least half a dozen of my family lines and I looked forward to learning more about how death and burial practices probably took place in their lives. I was not disappointed.

The first part of the book, "Death and Burial," explains in nine chapters the attitudes toward death and the evolution of burial customs over time from the pioneer days through the Victorian age. How cemeteries and funeral homes were established is detailed. Also explained are different practices according to religion and origins of modern funeral customs. Excerpts from local histories, etiquette books and letters of the period, and photographs and advertisements from local newspapers are all used to enhance and illustrate each chapter.

In "Part II: Genealogical Implications," each of the nine chapters from Part I is revisited, with a listing of resources (hard copy and electronic) which correspond. For example, the first chapter in both parts is titled "Death and Attitudes." In Part I, this chapter explains the attitudes nineteenth-century people in Ontario had toward death as found in local histories. In Part II, this chapter lists where to find local histories and other related sources in libraries and on the Internet. Smart describes when resources may be difficult to find and offers tips and suggestions. She states when record keeping began for various sources and gives pointers for alternatives before record keeping was required.

All notes are cited and a helpful fourteen-page bibliography is also provided. This title is an excellent reference work that is beneficial for any genealogist with Ontario roots. A Better Place: Death and Burial in Nineteenth-Century Ontario by Susan Smart was published in 2011 by the Ontario Genealogical Society/Dundurn Press and is 235 pages. It is available in for $14.82 (US) at Amazon.

Disclosure: I received a free book from Dundurn Press for review.  As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price when readers purchase a title through the Amazon link above, although this title is available at other websites and various bookstores.

Scanfest is Coming!

The May 2011 Scanfest will take place here at AnceStories this coming Sunday, May 22nd, from 11 AM to 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time. This is one week early due to the last Sunday of the month (our normal Scanfest time) falling during Memorial Day weekend.

What is Scanfest? It's a time when geneabloggers, family historians, and family archivists meet online here at this blog to chat while they scan their precious family document and photos. Why? Because, quite honestly, scanning is time-consuming and boring!

Scanfest is a great time to "meet" other genealogists, ask questions about scanning and preservation, and get the kick in the pants we all need on starting those massive scanning projects that just seem too overwhelming to begin.

To get started, you need to know the basics about scanning:

1. Don't use commercial glass cleaners (i.e. Windex) or paper towels to clean your scanner's glass plate. Use a soft, clean cloth, preferably microfiber. If you must use a liquid, use water sprayed directly onto the cloth  and make sure to let the plate dry thoroughly before placing photos or documents on it.

2. Wear cotton gloves (available at many art and/or photography supply shops) when handling photos and old documents.

3. Don't slide the photos around on the glass plate. Place them exactly where you want them. Photos should NEVER be scanned by a scanner that feeds the document through the machine, but ALWAYS on a flat-bed scanner.

4. Set your scanner to scan at no smaller than 300 dpi (dots per inch). Many experts recommend 600 dpi for photographs.

5. Photographs should ALWAYS be scanned and saved as .tif files. Use "Save As" to reformat the .tif file to a .jpg file for restoration and touchups, emailing, or uploading to an online photo album. ALWAYS retain the original scan as a .tif file.

6. Documents can be scanned as .pdf files or .tif files.

7. When you are done scanning your photos, don't put them back in those nasty "magnetic" photo albums. Place them in archival safe albums or boxes found at websites such as Archival Products or Archival Suppliers. Do NOT store any newsprint (articles, obituaries, etc.) with the photos. The acid from the newspaper will eventually destroy the photograph.

Now about the chatting part of Scanfest:

We will be using Cover It Live, a live blogging format that you access right here at AnceStories.

On Sunday at 11 AM, PDT, come right here to AnceStories and you'll see the CoverItLive live blog/forum in the top post. It's not really a "chat room," per se, it's more like a live forum and anyone visiting this site can read and see what is happening in the forum.

You will not need to download any software.

Up to 25 individuals can be invited to be Producers. Producers are participants who have the extra capability of sharing photos, links, and other media within the forum (great for sharing the photos you're scanning!). You must have Internet Explorer 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ to be a Producer.

We can also have up to 25 other Participants who can comment freely in our conversation, but will not be able to share media. You can have any kind of browser to be a Participant, except AOL. Those who normally access the Internet with AOL may wish to download Firefox or Explorer ahead of time to be able to participate on CoverItLive.

In addition, any other readers of this blog can drop on by and view/read what is happening at Scanfest. If the 25 Participant spaces are full, those readers will not be able to comment, unless someone else drops out.

Confused? Have questions? Go to CoverItLive and check out 6. Try It Now to see live blogs in action or 7. Demos to see videos demonstrating how to use CIT (especially the ones titled "How do my readers watch my Live Blog?" and "Adding Panelists and Producers").

If you would like to be a Producer, please e-mail me no later than Saturday, May21st at 4 PM, PDT and I'll send you an invitation. Preference will given to previous Scanfesters. You must set up an account (free!) ahead of time to be a Producer. This account will be good for all future Scanfests. You can do some practices ahead of time by going to My Account and clicking on the link under Practice your live blogging. Again, you must have IE 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ to be a Panelist.

As a Producer, Participant or simply a reader, if you would like an e-mail reminder for Scanfest, fill out the form below and choose the time frame for which you would like to be reminded (if you're reading this through Google Reader, Bloglines, or some other RSS feed reader, you will need to go to my blog and view this post there to see and utilize the form).

It really is easier than it sounds, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all there and getting some scanning done!

Book Review: The Journey Takers

I was fortunate to receive a copy of Leslie Albrecht Huber's The Journey Takers for review. The title is appropriate, for it follows the paths of four of Huber's paternal ancestors as they journey from their respective homes in Germany, Sweden, and England to their new lives in America in the nineteenth century. But it's much more than that. Throughout the story, Huber interweaves the story of her own journey as a young woman, first as a college student, then a newlywed, and finally as a young mother struggling to make sense of her ancestral history as it relates to the present.

The author had some amazing opportunities of which most genealogists can only dream: visiting and doing on-site research in her ancestral locations in Europe. Along the way, she researches the history of each region, outlining the factors which ultimately led to the immigration of her journey-taking ancestors.

Using original and microfilmed documents, Huber goes back to the earliest ancestors she can trace in these communities, telling their stories. She fills out the foundation of local and family history with fictional scenes of her ancestors' lives, imagining the impact of events and the likely resulting actions and emotions. She details the sacrifices and hardships the journey takers endured as they sought their destination: a new Zion where they could worship and live as they saw fit.

As she considered the tragedies and suffering of the journey takers and wondered if their destination was worth it, Huber came to the following realization:

Zion is not a place --it's a state of being, a frame of mind, a feeling within. It's a belief in something beyond one's self, a devotion to a greater cause.

Zion is not a destination. It is a journey.

Family historians will benefit greatly from this title for a variety of reasons. The depth and scope of research required to create a quality history of Huber's ancestors' lives is marked. The careful documentation and source citations are to be applauded. Creating a realistic and sequential narration out of the bare bones of facts is to be commended. To be able to research, analyze and synthesize the details of family historians' ancestors in such an interesting and valid manner is something to which we all should attain. Huber's book is a strong example of a fascinating story married to a quality researched work and as such would be a excellent addition to any genealogist's personal library.

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The Journey Takers by Leslie Albrecht Huber, published in 2010 by Foundation Books; 321 pages. Available at bookstores and online at websites such as Amazon.com ($19.95 most places; $19.07 at Amazon).

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Disclosure: I received a free book from Ms. Huber for review.  As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price when readers purchase a title through the Amazon link above, although this title is available at other websites and various bookstores.

Happy Mother's Day!

 A Happy Mother's Day wish goes out to all mothers, everywhere. In past years, I have written several posts for Mother's Day, and I'd like to share them with you:

Eight Generations of Mothers
A photo essay of my direct maternal line - 2007

Mom, How'd You Get So Smart?
This is actually a three-part piece written by my mother about her school days and education - 2008
(The really amazing thing is that Mom reconnected with her childhood best friend through these articles; the friend happened to Google her own name and found it on my blog; they reunited after nearly 40 years!)

My Husband's Maternal Line
Many of you know I am going through a divorce; yet I remain close to my in-laws. This post is a tribute to my mother-in-law's maternal line - 2010

Happy Easter!

Cousin Adelia, Zumbrota, Minnesota to Rena Lerfald, Mandan, North Dakota. Postcard, postmarked 20 Mar 1913. Lerfald-Westaby Postcard Collection, digitized and privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. Original collection privately held by Troy W. Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Vancouver, Washington. 2011.

No Scanfest in April

I apologize for the last-minute notice, but there will be no Scanfest in April.

Originally, I was going to bump it from the last Sunday in April (the 24th), which happens to be Easter Sunday, to the third Sunday, the 17th. However, I just discovered late last night that the summer camp reunion I planned to attend this weekend will be held on Sunday and not Saturday, as I previously thought.

I briefly considered having Scanfest on Saturday, the 16th, but realized I need a day to rest up and recover from a long week of work...the first week of school after Spring Break!

The next Scanfest will be held Sunday, May 22nd from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, PDT. This is one week earlier than normal, due to the Memorial Day weekend. See you then!

P.S. If you're just dying to talk with your chat buddies before May, check out Geneabloggers Radio Friday evenings and Dae Powell's chats.

Free Access to Some Subscription Websites' Databases

Two subscription websites are offering free access in one form or another for a limited time:

1. In honor of the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War, which began April 12th, 1861, Ancestry is offering free access to its 1850 and 1860 Federal Censuses and its Civil War Records Database through April 14th. You will need to register with an email address (no credit card required!).

2. In honor of National Library Week, Gale Cenage is offering free access to several (not all) databases through April 24th. Normally, individuals cannot subscribe to Gale; only libraries and institutions can, and then you can access it if your participating library, university, or other institution of which you are a member has subscribed. The six databases they are offering access to are: Global Issues in Context (GIC); Gale NewsVault; GREENR; PowerSpeak Languages; Science in Context; and Slavery and Anti-Slavery. Check them out here.

See all special offers here.