We Are All Cousins

High priestess of proper documentation in family history research, Elizabeth Shown Mills, is also a great storyteller. However, you may have to turn up the volume to hear her video clip "We Are All Cousins" because she is also very soft spoken.

Mystery Man Identified!

Good piece of detecting Susan Dowell!

Samuel HINCKLEY was born May 23, 1589 in Harrietsham, Kent, England. Married May 7, 1617 in Hawkhurst, Kent, England Sarah SOOLE/SOULE. His descendants include the 6th and final Governor of Plymouth Colony and 3 of our last 4 US Presidents--the 2 Presidents BUSH and President OBAMA.

You can view this connection at the Press Release section of the New England Historic Genealogical Society website.

Fall Genealogy Class Starts on Tuesday

The fall session of Genealogy Research at Cuesta College begins on Tuesday at 9 AM. This session will be on genealogy principles and US research. It will be aimed at beginning and intermediate researchers. As of yesterday morning there were 19 registered. That leaves 5 more workstations available.

The formal part of the class is from 10:00 to 12:00 but we have the computer lab scheduled from 9:00 to 12:50. Parking is usually much better before 9 AM. The time before and after the formal presentation can be used for consultation, for Internet research or for exploring RootsMagic4.

For the first week we will make sure everyone is signed up for this blog, discuss the basics of family history research, complete a pedigree chart in RootsMagic, complete a search exercise in Google, and take a little quiz.

Students should bring a flash drive, a public library card, and any information you need to login to your personal email account from a remote location. If you already have data in a computerized genealogy program, export it to your flash drive as a GEDCOM file or save it as a RootsMagic file and bring it to class.

Online registration is now available at:
http://www.communityprograms.net/comed/sf.htm#Genealogical%20Research

Who am I? Clue 3

I arrived in North America on the Hercules in 1635.

Who Am I? Clue 2

Here is a second clue to the identity of the person whose birth record was posted on August 19th. It is from a nearby English parish register almost three decades later:


Now are you beginning to figure out who I am? Is this priest's handwriting easier to decipher?

Griffith's Valuation of Ireland

AskAboutIreland says about Griffith's Valuation, "The Primary Valuation was the first full-scale valuation of property in Ireland. It was overseen by Richard Griffith and published between 1847 and 1864. It is one of the most important surviving 19th century Irish genealogical sources."

Free searches of Griffith's are now available. If you had ancestors living in Ireland in the middle of the 19th Century, you should check it out. The database can be searched by either name or by location. Various boxes on the search page allow very specific information to be included. Be careful. Too much information entered there may eliminate all possible matches. If you get no matches, eliminate a search term or two. If you get too many matches, then you can be more specific.

While you are at the site, check out other features.

Who am I?

Can you figure out who this birth record is for? It is from an English parish register. He is an immigrant from whom at least three US Presidents descend. Post your guesses below. Who will be the first to identify him?

Additional clues will be posted weekly until someone makes an identification.

Take a look at the beta FamilySearch Catalog

Take a look at the beta FamilySearch Catalog. FamilySearch is beta testing a new portal catalog and is looking for your feedback. Take a look at this now while you can participate in shaping this important tool into something that can be useful to you and others in the future. It certainly has a cleaner look than the previous version. Share your thoughts about it in the comments box below AND with the development team through the above link.

Enjoy!

Salt Lake City Research Trip

Denise and I plan to leave Wednesday to drive to Salt Lake City. We plan to take a seminar on German Research on Saturday.



Five of Denise's eight great-grandparents were from Germany or Prussian areas along the German/Polish border. We have never had much luck tracing them before they got on the boat to come to America.

We will spend the next week doing research in the Family History Library.

Hope all of you have some time to do research this month.

DNA Dilemma: Should I Take a Genetic Test?

Join Newsweek writer Mary Carpenter as she sorts through the politics and benefits of personal genetic testing in DNA Dilemma: Should I Take a Genetic Test? One writer's quest to determine if she should take an at-home gene test. First in a weeklong series.