Imperial Airways Map of Empire & European Air by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, 1937. Online at DavidRumseyHistoricalMaps.com. Click on the image to see full citation information.
Among more than 15,000 maps and images newly posted at the David Rumsey Map Collection, these caught my eye as particularly useful for family history. Do any of them look relevant to YOUR genealogy?
1. A massive group of German Invasion plans for England, Wales, and Ireland in WWII;
McSorley’s Bar, a 1912 painting by John French Sloan. Wikimedia Commons image; click to view.
Get quick definitions of old and unfamiliar words with the Google “define” search operator.
Recently, Shelly wrote to us about some correspondence she didn’t understand from an older relative. One mysterious phrase particularly stuck out:
“She has mentioned several times that various relatives of mine were ’rounders.’ An example: ‘I found out later she was a real rounder.’ Does this mean a drinker, a promiscuous person, or just someone who ran around a lot as a younger person? Apparently, I come from a big family of ’rounders’!”
The answer to Shelly’s question is a perfect example of how Google can help buy medication online in canada with genealogy questions like this one. Google’s Define search operator is the key here. Go to Google.com and type define:rounder and you’ll get the following answer:
So yes indeed, it sounds like Shelly’s ancestors enjoyed “making the rounds” to drinking establishments!
Did you know that Google is getting smarter about answering our questions with search results? Instead of just showing us links to sites with the keywords in our questions, Google has started providing answers at the top of the search results. Click here to see an example!
Resource:
The Genealogist’s Google Toolboxcovers the use of search operators for genealogy in depth. I’ve fully revised and updated this new second edition.
One of my favorite features on MyHeritage family websites is the family events calendar. This calendar automatically populates itself with living relatives’ birthdays and wedding anniversaries. In addition to giving you a streaming calendar feed, you also get helpful reminders of how old that person is turning or which anniversary it is.
As you can see from the image on the right, you can also post new family events: graduations, showers, weddings, and reunions (from a last-minute picnic to a full-scale gathering).
Now you can get those event reminders sent directly to your mobile phone. MyHeritage says, “Enable this feature by going to Account > My profile > Edit site preferences > Family event reminders. Choose the option to recieve reminders via Text Message (SMS) and enter your phone number to start getting reminders of your loved ones’ big days.”
I always wanted to be more like my Uncle John and Aunt Deb, who remember all family birthdays with cute cards in the mail. (Thank you for that!) But I haven’t been organized enough over the years. Sending event reminders to my phone can prompt me to take baby steps forward: to Facebook my cousins when their young children have birthdays, remember important anniversary years and not have to count on my fingers to know how old my brother is turning this year!
Using BillionGraves for genealogy research has never been easier.
BillionGraves aims to document and preserve the world’s cemeteries. They provide a platform for volunteers around the world (and their smartphones!) to capture headstone images and their GPS locations. The images are transcribed and the index is searchable on the BillionGraves website and other leading genealogy sites.
Learn more on using BillionGraves for genealogy, what it offers now and its hopes for the future in this video interview by Lisa Louise Cooke with Hudson Gunn. Then keep reading below to learn a few more tips from us here at Genealogy Gems on using Billiongraves for genealogy.
Ready to learn more about using BillionGraves for genealogy?
Slave traders in Senegal. “Marchands d’esclaves de Gorée-Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur mg 8526” by Rama – Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. Click to see image online.
Did you hear what has been discovered about the remains of three Caribbean slaves found on the island of St. Martin? Scientific techniques identified them as two males and one female, all between 25 and 40 years of age, who were buried around the mid-to-late-1600s.
But where were they from? It took DNA to help answer that question, with a process very similar to that used to identify our ethnic origins in DNA testing today.
First, scientists had to retrieve DNA from the sun-bleached, humidity-soaked remains. Their first stop: the teeth. Traditional DNA extraction and analysis methods failed, but results were found with a new method called whole genome capture. You can think of this method like unleashing an army of vigilantes on your DNA, each one tasked with bringing back a particular portion for analysis. While this method was far more successful, it still was only able to find 7% of the DNA of the best sample.
Second, they needed a reference population: a group of Africans to compare these results to in order to find a match. There is such a group assembled, which contains 11 of the likely 50 population groups that contributed to the slave trade. Keep in mind that in Africa, especially at that time, populations were not defined by geography as much as language. So when you hear African populations defined, it is often according to their relationship to one very large language group in Africa, called Bantu. There are really two groups: those that are Bantu speakers, and those who are not.
Even with the incomplete DNA and the limited reference population, the group was able to determine that two of the slaves belonged to non-Bantu speaking tribes, likely in present day Ghana or Nigera, while the third was Bantu speaking, possibly from northern Cameroon.
Finding ancient samples such as these, and having technology enough to analyze them, if even just a small part, has huge implications for the future of genetic genealogy, and family history. These kinds of genetic techniques can help place you in a genealogical relationship with another person, where your traditional genealogical methods could not. Family history, the substance and story of your relationship, inevitably follows.
I think Fatimah Jackson, a biologist and anthropologist at Howard University, said it best. “It seems to me that, as a scientist, the best way to ‘honor’ these unfortunate individuals is to allow their story to be told,” she says. “The story of a few can illuminate the condition of the masses.” We may never know the names and specific life histories of this woman and two men any more than we already do. But DNA has gotten us closer to telling at least some of their story. Click hereto read the scientific study.
Genealogy Gems Premium members can learn more about using maps for family history in our full-length video class, 5 Ways to Enhance Your Genealogy Research with Old Maps. Here’s an excerpt from the video below about finding and using old Sanborn Fire Maps:
