A very interesting article in The Herald Bulletin, by Melanie D. Hayes, about a genealogist receiving a civil war medal that an ancestor had earned, and that nobody in the family had heard about. His great-great-grandfather was killed in action in Virginia in 1864, and was awarded a medal as a result.
The article mentions that just for West Virginia Civil War soldiers alone, there were over 5,000 medals that went unclaimed.
The Daily Telegraph has an article by Ben Fenton about Tony Robinson (Baldrick in Blackadder, as well as Time Team) and his family’s history. Those of you who follow him, know that he’s now become well-known for helping to popularise archaeology, but surprisingly, he hasn’t looked into his family history all that much. That’s changed recently.
A very intersting article, and worth reading, but I’m a bit worried that people with only a mild interest in genealogy will read it and come away thinking that genealogy is just as easy as the click of a mouse button.
With all of the talk about the 2006 Canadian Census, and people having the option of whether or not the information will be revealed in 2098, The Genealogue mentions that headstone information will become optional as well
Texas Ranch House (1867) is about to premier in the US on PBS on May 1st. It’s similar to several very popular series that have come out from the BBC and PBS over the past several years, where people (non-actors) are selected to live like our ancestors did at certain places and time periods (or at least pretend to like them) - Colonial House, Victorian House, 1940s House, etc.
Most have a lot of potential, but the problem is people let their modern attitudes creep into everything and sometimes overwhelm the shows or settings. It’s hard to put your modern attitudes aside, but at the same time some of the series seemed like they had one or two or three people cast deliberately to generate controversy or problems.
This one does look interesting, and on the surface, except for maybe one or two people, all who were selected seem like they will fit into it a bit better than in past series.
Do you care who knows your secrets in 2098? is another article about the Candian Census, and this time around being able to opt out of having the information revealed in 2098. It’s by Peter Van Harten,writing for the The Hamilton Spectator, and it gets into some of the issues faced by Canadians over just how much information they want revealed for people in the future to see (whether genealogists or family members). With so much of this information coming online and being easily accessed, and with the questions expanding quite a bit, it’s fast becoming a hot topic.
According to The Scotsman, 1841 census records for Scotland were placed online, along with many other historical Scottish documents.
More information: ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk
The Durham Region News has an article by Jeff Hayward,
Choose ‘yes’ on Census, urges group , that is pushing Canadians to check off ‘Yes’ on releasing their census information in 92 years.
The Genealogue celebrated its 1000th post monday with a listing of many of the genealogy blogs/sites that Chris reads. You should check it out - most, if not all, of the sites he mentioned deserve a place in your bookmarks (I’m not saying that just because RG is mentioned either!).
