Google, friend to Genealogists

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Google provides some wondrous instantaneous fabulous easy searches.

Want to see a word in several dictionary formats and REAL FAST?
Type in: [define (word)]. That’s it!

To Google any holiday. Type in: [date (holiday) 2008 (or any year)], and there will be many websites with various methods to search and display dates. Remember when you used to have to go speak in to Granny's hearing aid to find out what date Easter was going to be this year?

One calendar website that seems quite handy is www.calendardate.com .
A direct link to that website’s listings of all of the holidays for the U.S in 2008 is at:
http://www.calendardate.com/year2008_holidays.php

Google also is heavily promoting the use of their own online personal Calendar. It is pretty cool for keeping your schedules, appointments, family & friends birth dates, etc. I have been experimenting with it some for scheduling meetings. I consider it still in my personal Beta testing category.

I am not a big fan of sharing personal information like that with the world. So it is still experimental for me. When I can figure out how to make sure private information is TRULY private, then I might trust it more.

Tell us what you think about Google Calendar.
Let us know what some of your favorite Google search uses are. Sharing is good.

genemisc

Upcoming Genealogy Events

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Happenings...
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Quincy, Massachusetts - March 17, 2008 - Genealogy Class: "Finding Your Roots: Irish-American Genealogy."
Held at The Thomas Crane Public Library.
Details at: http://thomascranelibrary.org./

Spartanburg, South Carolina - Saturday February 16, 2008 (tomorrow!) - Workshop designed to help black residents with genealogy - Information: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080215/NEWS/802150315/1051/NEWS01

Shrewsbury, Massachusetts - The Shrewsbury Genealogy Club meets the fourth Monday of each month, from September to June.
Info at: http://www.wickedlocal.com/shrewsbury/news/x1819378626

Note to event planners:
Genealogy Miscellanea Blog will help to promote your event if the notices are sent with enough advance notice. The above few were just selected at random from various news sources located on the Internet, for an example.

(genemisc)

Find Your Southern Civil War Ancestor in Original Confederate Documents

If your male ancestor of the 1850's to 1860's lived in any of the following Southern States; South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, then the chances are that they proudly served as Confederate Soldiers in the American Civil War.

There are now many original documents becoming available online from footnote, that will allow you to view, print, download and save, images of the actual manuscript documents that tell the history of your ancestors.

Footnote has partnered with the National Archives (NARA) and many other organizations, libraries, archives and resource centers that have holdings of these important historical resources. Never before has it been so easy to locate and study these rare and little known treasures.

Here are just a few of the categories of collections that you will be able to view at footnote; Confederate Soldiers Service Records from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. Confederate Amnesty Papers from all of the States of the South.

Footnote is a subscription based service company that digitizes microfilms of collections and that has scanned original documents into this more that 25 Million Documents Collection to date, and growing all the time. There are several totally FREE categories and collections that may be viewed by anyone, even without subscribing.

Some of the totally FREE items available on footnote are; Brady Civil War Photos, Custer's Court Martial, Lincoln Assassination Papers, Southern Claims Commission, and many more. View actual images of the John Wilkes Booth Diary.

Take a FREE look at footnote, and if you do decide to subscribe, (they have several different subscription levels and prices,) then you will be eligible for a 100% FREE Trial Subscription as a "Genealogy Miscellanea Blog" reader. Use any of the links provided here to take you to the FREE Trial.

ps: Tell us of the excellent finds you have made on footnote, or ask any questions, by clicking on the "comments" tab right under this message.


(genemisc)

Mother Earth News Gives Good Advice on Tracing Genealogy

There is an electronic version of an article titled “How to Trace Your Family Genealogy” posted on the “Mother Earth News” website.

If you want to see what we had for resources in 1977, then this will be an interesting read for you. There is no doubt that the Internet and digitization have skyrocketed this whole field, however the basic information provided in this magazine article would still be good to adhere to.

What else would you expect from Mother Earth News? One line from the article says it best for genealogists. "You don't know where you're goin' if you don't know where you've been."

Link to the article

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1977-07-01/How-to-Trace-Your-Family-Genealogy.aspx

For Genealogy Miscellanea readers, tell us what you think. Give us your comments on how things have changed. This website is an excellent free forum for you to post your thoughts and share them with others. You are store houses of information and we want to hear some of your stories.

Just click on the little “comments” button just below this Blog message.