Pass It Down Reinvents the Greeting Card to Help Capture Family Memories

Dick Eastman · July 18, 2017 · Announcements · No Comments

I haven’t had this in my hands yet but it certainly looks interesting. Here is the announcement from Pass It Down:

greetingStory™ makes it simple and fun to capture family stories one greeting card at a time.

​
Chattanooga, Tenn. (July 18, 2017) – Pass It Down, an award-winning storytelling platform that makes it easy to digitally record and preserve family memories, announced today the launch of its first physical product, greetingStory™. greetingStory™ reinvents the greeting card, making it easy to capture family memories and handwriting, reconnect with loved ones and preserve family stories.

“Our goal at Pass It Down is to create innovative and affordable ways for every family to capture their treasured memories,” said Pass It Down CEO and Founder Chris Cummings. “Today’s technology allows us to simplify everything we do, and we think capturing and sharing family memories should be no different. With the launch of greetingStory™, families have an effortless, interactive and effective way to capture each of their special memories, one question at a time.”

greetingStory™ is great in its simplicity. Each greetingStory™ card features a question on the cover, with included tips and instructions from top biographers to help guide loved ones in sharing their memories. The cards feature two prominent spaces to share memories and to capture loved one’s handwriting. Every card includes a QR code on the back, allowing the user to upload a loved one’s story into the Pass It Down platform. The platform can also host additional video, audio, text and photos, completing the story. A complete story can be shared with the entire family, serving as a permanent, digital memory book for everyone.

Families can choose between two options for greetingStory cards. Worldwide, Pass It Down offers greetingStory™ Memory Boxes that include 12, 24 or 48 cards and envelopes. In the US, Pass It Down offers a subscription model where you can send a family member one, two or four cards per month. Each card includes a pre-paid return envelope to send the card back to the customer.

“Imagine being able to send your mom or dad 24 cards a year, in a personalized envelope, asking about their life and their legacy. We automate the process for families, and our pre-paid return envelopes ensure that it is extremely simple for your relative to get the cards back to you” said Cummings.

For more information about greetingStory, please visit www.passitdown.com or connect with Pass It Down on Twitter (@passitdown).

Family Buys Hilarious Birthday Card for Grandpa, Finds Out it has an Old Family Photo

Dick Eastman · June 27, 2017 · Photography · 4 Comments

Family photos are where you find them!
A 12-year-old in Kansas recently found a hilarious card to give to her grandfather for his 74th birthday. The card had a very old-fashioned family photo on the front, with everyone looking very stern and serious. On top it said, “It’s your birthday!” Her mother also laughed when she saw the card. Then she stopped laughing when she looked closer.

A man in the photo looked a lot like her grandfather and of her great-grandmother. The family gave the card to the 74-year-old man celebrating his birthday. He got all excited as he realized the picture was of his father, his grandmother, and of a number of his other relatives! It was a photo he had never seen before.

In fact, the family eventually was able to locate the original photo the card was made from. The family identified almost everyone in the photo that was taken in 1906 at a wedding.
You can read the details in an article in the Epoch Times web site at: http://bit.ly/2taHCeC.
My thanks to newsletter reader Karen Parker for telling me about this story.

Huge Genealogical Database of Ukrainians Born in 1650–1920 is Now Online

Dick Eastman · June 26, 2017 · Online Sites · 3 Comments

According to EuroMaiden Press at http://bit.ly/2tbqm9k:

A huge database of people born in the territory of contemporary Ukraine between 1650 and 1920 became available online this week. Its opening crowned the four-year efforts of activists to digitize, systematize, and assemble countless entries from historical documents—but is not the final point of the project.

The database includes 2.56 mn people and is expected to reach 4 to 5 mn in 2019. The access to its contents is and will remain free of charge. The sources of data are manifold: birth registers, fiscal and parish censuses, lists of nobility, voters, the military, and victims of repressions, address directories, and other documents produced under the Tsardom of Muscovy, Russian and Habsburg Empires, Poland and the Soviet Union. A Roman-letter version of the data index is reportedly to be enabled in the coming months.

All the users who register profiles on the project’s website pra.in.ua can construct their own family trees. Nearly 18 thousand trees have been created in the first couple of days following the official inauguration of the site.

You can read the full article at: http://bit.ly/2tbqm9k.
I normally look at web sites and make a quick evaluation before I write about them. However, the web site at https://pra.in.ua/ is in Ukrainian, not one of my languages. I will simply mention the site and leave it to you, the reader, to decide how useful it is for you. I assume you can read Ukrainian.
I did attempt to use Google Translate but the results were mixed. For instance, I wondered if there is a fee to use this site. Google translates reports, “To support the project financially. We have access to the database free of charge, but to base the project developed and increased resources are needed.”
O)n a different web page, Google Translate provided the following words: “Access to the database is free. All costs of creating the portal, its administration, technical support, development, work with documents and content indexing database implemented entirely by donations from outside users.”
The Ukrainian births database is available at: https://pra.in.ua.
The article in the EuroMaiden Press reports, “A Roman-letter version of the data index is reportedly to be enabled in the coming months.”

FamilySearch to Discontinue Microfilm Distribution

FamilySearch to Discontinue its Microfilm Distribution Services

Dick Eastman · June 26, 2017 · Current Affairs, Film/Photos, Genealogy Basics · 2 Comments

This announcement shouldn’t surprise any genealogists. The end of microfilm has been predicted for years. Microfilm and microfiche has become harder and harder to purchase. Most of the manufacturers have stopped producing microfilm and microfiche so the companies and non-profits that release information on film have been forced to abandon the media.
Over 1.5 million microfilms (ca. 1.5 billion images) have been digitized by FamilySearch, including the most requested collections based on microfilm loan records worldwide. In addition, many records that FamilySearch has not yet published can be found online on partner or free archive websites. FamilySearch plans to finish microfilm digitization by 2020.
The following is an extract from the announcement from FamilySearch:

On September 1, 2017, FamilySearch will discontinue its microfilm distribution services. (The last day to order microfilm will be on August 31, 2017.)

The change is the result of significant progress made in FamilySearch’s microfilm digitization efforts and the obsolescence of microfilm technology.

• Online access to digital images of records allows FamilySearch to reach many more people, faster and more efficiently.
• FamilySearch is a global leader in historic records preservation and access, with billions of the world’s genealogical records in its collections.
• Over 1.5 million microfilms (ca. 1.5 billion images) have been digitized by FamilySearch, including the most requested collections based on microfilm loan records worldwide.
• The remaining microfilms should be digitized by the end of 2020, and all new records from its ongoing global efforts are already using digital camera equipment.
• Family history centers will continue to provide access to relevant technology, premium subscription services, and digital records, including restricted content not available at home.

You can read the full announcement at: http://bit.ly/2sGGePz.
Frequently Asked Questions about the change may be found at: http://bit.ly/2s6OvO6.

Resurrection of a Small Dakota Pioneer Cemetery

This Power Point was presented at a Sioux Falls Family History Conference in October 2013 

by Pat Walker

My involvement with this cemetery began when I was 2 or 3 years old when my mother brought me here to place flowers, clean up, etc. 

I found cement lot borders a maze to run on, little lamb stones to sit on and lots of adventure.

I am sure my mother explained which ancestors were buried there—such as my grandmother, who I knew in life before she died when I was 3.  The cemetery seemed full of promises, future awakenings—why take care of these graves unless we expected those residing here to someday come back to “life”?

Great Great Grandfather William C Lampson donated part of his land to plat out a cemetery, which was surveyed in 1886.  Later a “Trust” association was formed for selling plots—1909.

Early records indicate they had Association Mtgs. Elected officers, held Ice Cream Socials to raise funds for special projects.

This early history, brief, but inaccurate, was a “skeleton” to build upon.  The memories of relatives, at advanced age, are sometimes clouded as to exact dates, but the basic core of the story is accurate.  The earliest burial was NOT Hiram King (will touch on that later), but Daniel Latham in 1882.   The land donated for the cemetery was not homesteaded in 1880, but rather purchased about 1883.

Wellman Church Death Records were a valuable tool in “resurrecting” some of those buried in Mt Auburn—providing religious affiliation, vital data such as birth, death, burial.

Especially infants—Note the Cade date of death as July 28 1914, “Infant” which confirms the tombstone inscription of George Francis Cade including who preached at the funeral.

We had a church Youth Group, as a Summer Camp Project, come to the cemetery, in drenching rain, with several of us holding umbrellas, to make an initial survey of the cemetery by copying Tombstone Inscriptions. This was then compiled, published and microfilmed by the Family History Library in Utah.  It was used as a basis for the Excel Spreadsheet created in 2007.

Notes in Margins of one of the earlier map copies indicate discrepancies with that original history Art Leighton. 

For example, HIRAM KING Earliest Death Recorded as 1881 ? On Lot 57. 

Land deeded 1886—there were a number of burials before the survey of the area was recorded in 1909.

Closer look at Stone Inscription for Hiram King shows he probably died in 1884, not 1881, so earliest death was Daniel Latham in 1882.

This is the 1941 WPA Map that my grandfather had in our attic—shows date and legend of noting burial location, veterans, but only a few of the earlier graves actually agree with this burial location map, as to location, grave space number.  

What did the WPA use to determine Grave numbering system?

--Actual WPA records list names, dates and burial locations, in addition to Unmarked or Unidentified burials agree with this map as to Grave space number, but not necessarily location.  Neither of these agree with future grave space numbering as recorded in Register of Deeds Burial Index or Burial Permits in the Lot Records. What happened?

Maps and Letter photographed by Larry Cool from Moody County Register of Deeds – Certification by Deputy State Surveyor as employed by the Trustees of Mt Auburn of Land Coordinates, location description and all are correct as signed in January 1909. 

Map is accompanying drawing by the State Surveyor showing the lots and lot numbers

This is WPA data copied from archives at Moody County Museum for Mt Auburn Cemetery. 

This, with other data has been added to the master Excel database and lot records, even though grave locations and some other data disagrees with facts discovered later from other sources.  It is VITAL to check other databases. 

Example: Binnewies, F W above—that burial does not exist any more because he was later moved to Greenwood Cemetery in Brookings—information from family confirms that. Dowsing might still indicate a burial because the earth was disturbed twice—once to bury and  once to exhume.

This shows the different numbering keys depending on dates of burial, location and whose records are used. In addition, in some plots, only quarters, such as SW, NW, NE are given—thus limiting gravespaces to 4-6, rather than 8 per lot.

In 2007, husband, John was appointed sexton for Mt Auburn Cemetery and I elected President. We gathered burial data from these sources, along with the data from the Cemetery records themselves (as I just mentioned the WPA records, Church records, Lot Records, old maps, correspondence, Gravestone transcriptions) and created a lot envelope and book to centralize this data. 

--We then copied every old map copy (scribbled on at different times in different ways by different sextons or presidents) and cut up the copies into Lot squares and added to the Lot record envelope and the data to the Excel Database.

--After creating the database, we added (and are still adding) data gathered from outside sources such as listed here, footnoting the source of each piece of data.

In 2007, husband, John was appointed sexton for Mt Auburn Cemetery and I elected President.

We gathered burial data from these sources, along with the data from the Cemetery records themselves (as I just mentioned the WPA records, Church records, Lot Records, old maps, correspondence, Gravestone transcriptions) and created a lot envelope and book to centralize this data.

   --We then copied every old map copy (scribbled on at different times in different ways by different sextons or presidents) and cut up the copies into Lot   squares and added to the Lot record envelope and the data to the Excel Database.

  --After creating the database, we added (and are still adding) data gathered from outside sources such as listed here, footnoting the source of each   piece of data.

In setting up the database, I had to make a key for the sources for various pieces of data and this is what I used in 2007 and subsequent years as the data evolved.

Then created the fields as above based on the information from Lot records and compiled from other sources.

Using the database, lot records, other sources, applied this information to Cemetery mysteries, such as incorrect Tombstone dates, Unmarked graves, etc.

First Case: Hiram King—History and Map History Notes say he died in 1881.  Where did they get this information?

Photos show that how the 1884 could be misread as 1881. The WPA Records do note the death year as 1884.  Again these records were made over 60 years form the event, not the ideal evidence. Go to http://apps.sd.gov/applications/DT58Cemetery/Default.aspx

What other records to seek?  Could not find Funeral Home Records for 1884-5.

 However, there is Federally-sponsored Territorial 1885 Census Mortality schedule for SD.

Mortality schedules list people who died during the previous 12 months. Mortality schedules were taken along with population schedules during the 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses, and in six states (Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota) in 1885. The 1885 mortality schedule enumerated all individuals who died between June 1, 1884, and May 31, 1885.

In SD, the 1885 Mortality Schedule is available in only 2 repositories: Yankton Community Library as a published book summarizing the data and the original Microfilm at the SD State Archives—not available for ILL and no other copy as the 1885 Federal Mortality Schedule was not sent to National Archives for SD.  The Book version is at the FHL in Utah, and you can request scanned copies by email.

This shows the data summarized from the Book version in index form as extracted by Ancestry.com, BUT noted under the wrong time period—1850 – 1880, not 1885.

Conclusion: Hiram King died in December 1884, not 1881.

This was from a book.  Ancestry implies this as the year of death, but knowing that he died in December, that is not possible due to the range of dates the mortality schedule was taken. 

The death date had to be December 1884. 

Unfortunately, this is not all the data actually in the Mortality Schedule—the Schedule itself needs to be viewed. 

We found it in only one place (according to WorldCat)—SD State Archives—microfilmed. 

I realized that data could help with other burials in our cemetery and since our county was formed from Brookings and the Cemetery is nearest Lake, I ordered copies of Moody, Lake and Brookings, which did give me more data for some of the burials in our cemetery, besides Hiram King.

Rather than 3rd hand index such as we saw in the Index, we have “almost” the original document—a microfilm.

There was another document on the reverse of the census with a place for statement of attending physician with primary and causes of death. 

What additional information is available on this schedule that gives some new “life” to a cemetery record?

•Not just his place of birth, but those of his parents.

•How long he had been in the county—disputing “History” of Cemetery saying he came in 1880.

•Where he contracted the disease from which he died.

•Attending physician and where from

This and other Census Data can give clues to other family members buried near the deceased and “unmarked” or “unidentified” in Cemetery records

•SD Genweb--site now gone – archived at http://files.usgwarchives.net/sd/moody/cemeteries/mtauburn.txt

•Google Site/Google Docs—now Google Drive

https://sites.google.com/site/mtauburncemeteryinmoodycounty/Home -- up to date to 2010

at https://sites.google.com/site/mtauburncemeteryinmoodycounty/photos

•Wiki - https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Moody_County,_South_Dakota

•BillionGraves http://billiongraves.com/pages/cemeteries/MountAuburnCemetery/90841#cemetery_id=90841&lim=0&num=25&action=browse

•Find a Grave – Incomplete  http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=97265

•SD Gravestones —Incomplete, but more complete than Find A Grave http://southdakotagravestones.org/cemetery.php?cemID=366

•WPA at http://apps.sd.gov/applications/DT58Cemetery/Default.aspx

•WPA Veterans Cemetery Records (SD) http://history.sd.gov//archives/Data/wpavetcem/WPAVeteransCemeterySearch.aspx

•Larry Cool’s Site—Initial Template https://sites.google.com/site/mountauburncemeterymoodycosd/mt-auburn-surnames-family-trees

Giving the “burials” life history—linking them to family group and pedigree connections where stories and photos can “resurrect” their personality, history, links to other relatives who have more information,

Unreadable stones—3D photography uses same principle as the old Stereopticons to bring to “life” Tombstone Inscriptions

As of 2017, this no longer is here—removed by “unknown” persons

http://youtu.be/P0DbxlHGVqI

Minneapolis Star Tribune since 1867 Online

Minneapolis Star Tribune Newspapers Since 1867 are now Digitized and Available Online

Dick Eastman · May 5, 2017 · Online Sites · One Comment

Until now, archives from The Minneapolis Tribune and The Minneapolis Star, which merged in 1982, weren’t all available in one place. Now, the Star Tribune has digitized more than 54,000 issues from the past 150 years.

The Star Tribune is giving away free PDFs of any front page from the archives right now. Getting to click through the past isn’t free, though. Access for 30 days costs $7.99, and a six-month subscription costs $29.95. The archives were digitized with underwriting from Thomson Reuters and in partnership with newspapers.com.
You can learn more in an article at http://bit.ly/2qM5PTw while the collection itself is available at https://startribune.newspapers.com.

BROOKINGS SD Family History Center 25th Anniversary Open House

25^TH ANNIVERSARY

OPEN HOUSE

OF THE

BROOKINGS SD

FAMILY HISTORY CENTER

of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

200 22^nd Avenue, Brookings SD, NE doors

Saturday April 22 2017--1 to 4 pm

Individual Help Stations, Displays, Demos  

Celebrating 25 years of helping patrons

In the research and preservation of their family history

By providing access to records and free one-on-one individual assistance

WHERE DO I BEGIN?
Find an Ancestor in 5 minutes!

FAMILY HISTORY APPS

For all Ages!

FAMILYSEARCH BASICS
Try, Learn, and Grow Your Tree

PRESERVING YOUR PAST to LAST

Plan to Scan a few old photos/documents---bring a flash drive

CONVERTING OLD PAF DISCS

Bring your discs and a flash drive

WHAT’S ALWAYS FREE AT THE FHC?

Try Ancestry, NEHGS, Old Newspapers, Obituaries, FOLD3

WHY WE DO FAMILY HISTORY

BILLION GRAVES GREENWOOD

EAGLE SCOUT PROJECT

How you can help!

INDEXING

How you can assist in the effort to index millions of digitized records

ROOTSTECH VIDEOS

Get a taste of the world’s largest genealogy tech  conference!

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

 25 years of Family History Center

Directors and technology!

CLICK HERE to print a POSTER to SHARE!

No registration required--Just Come and Enjoy