A Touching Video from WestJet

This surprise from WestJet is amazing. Watch Santa surprise a plane load of passengers.

Monday Musings: Copyright and Plagiarism

A rather lively discussion of Copyright went on yesterday in a Facebook group. Sadly it degenerated into a couple of participants engaging in name-calling and emotional tirades. But the topic is important and I have been thinking about it more this morning.


One the one side were those who insisted that if you put something online (a family tree, an article, a photo) you must be prepared for it to be taken and used without your permission. 

A few declared that if we don't want our work taken then don't put it online. Then there were those who mistakenly thought that as long as the item(s) taken were not being sold or used to make money in some way, it was okay.

Those groups are wrong. We should not simply shrug our shoulders and ignore copyright violations. Anything original online is immediately under copyright and deserves our protection. That's where education comes in. Many times people violate copyright because they truly do not understand how the internet works and what the copyright laws are. 

In response to the suggestion that if we don't want our work taken, don't put it online -  if we independent webmasters stopped putting articles, photos, and data collections online, all the free websites and blogs would quickly disappear. 

As for the misconception that as long as the stolen work is not being used to profit the person who took it without permission, it does not matter what the intent is. Taking published work without permission violates copyright.

Definitions

There seemed to be confusion over copyright vs plagiarism vs fair use. Here are some definitions that were posted during the discussion yesterday

Definition of plagiarism: copying the work of someone else and publishing it as your own without permission and without crediting the work to the author. [Cyndi Ingle on https://www.facebook.com/groups/17834741205/ ]

Definition of fair use: purposely gray area in copyright law. Fair use includes using something for purely educational purposes or for review or for satire. But the *amount* of something that can be copied and called fair use is purposely vague. It depends on a case by case basis. [Cyndi Ingle on https://www.facebook.com/groups/17834741205/]

and the definition of copyright from the Merriam-Webster dictionary

Copyright:  the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work) 

Examples

Basically it means if I write and publish an article on my blog or my website, and you copy it without my permission and republish it elsewhere, you violated my copyright. It does not matter whether or not you gave attribution to me as the author, it's still a copyright violation. 

If you take a paragraph or a few sentences from my original article and use them in a new article you are writing that is fair use. But if you neglect to cite me as the original author of those words, it's plagiarism

How to Play Fair and Stay Out of Trouble

It's wise to always read a website's Terms of Use or Copyright Statement/Notice to find out what the restrictions (if any) are on items on that specific site. Big companies such as Ancestry.com have very specific Terms of Use that must be followed by anyone using the site. Smaller websites, such as my Olive Tree Genealogy, usually have a Copyright Notice of some kind that explains what the restrictions are for copying items on the site.

Suggested Reading

Cyndi's List has quite a few links related to Copyright Laws and Issues at http://www.cyndislist.com/ip/

 

Update FamilySearch Collections: Bolivia, Germany, USA, Billion Graves

Sample Page from N.C. Civil Action Court Papers

Here is the December update from FamilySearch.org

FamilySearch has added more than 1.2 million indexed records and images to collections from BillionGraves, Bolivia, Germany, and the United States. 

Notable collection updates include the 512, 388 indexed records and images from the BillionGraves Index, the 230,873 images from the U.S., North Carolina, Civil Action Court Papers, 1712–1970, collection, and the 79,078 indexed records from the Germany, Prussia, Pomerania Church Records, 1544–1945, collection. 

Search these diverse collections and more than 3.5 billion other records for free at FamilySearch.org.

Searchable historic records are made available on FamilySearch.org through the help of thousands of volunteers from around the world. These volunteers transcribe (index) information from digital copies of handwritten records to make them easily searchable online. More volunteers are needed (particularly those who can read foreign languages) to keep pace with the large number of digital images being published online at FamilySearch.org. 

Learn more about volunteering to help provide free access to the world’s historic genealogical records online at FamilySearch.org.

Online: Kingston Penitentiary inmate history description ledgers

Sample Page Kingston Penetentiary

Now genealogists can consult the Kingston Penitentiary inmate history description ledgers, which have been digitized and can be viewed on the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) website.

The ledgers provide photographs (mug shots) of inmates and information such as name; alias; age; place of birth; physical description; occupation; crime committed; and date, place and length of sentence.

Sample page, Kingston Penitentiary inmate history description ledgers.

To find the pictures of some of the inmates who were incarcerated at the Kingston Penitentiary, search for a person’s name in the Archives Search menu.

    1.    On the left of the screen, under Archives Search, click on the Advanced option. The advanced search screen will appear.
    2.    Type the word Kingston in the first search box, leaving the default “Any Keyword” in the drop-down menu. In the second search box, type the surname of the inmate, leaving the default “Any Keyword” in the drop-down menu.
    3.    From the Type of material drop-down menu, select Photographic material.
    4.    From the Online drop-down menu, click on Yes, then click on Submit. Your search will generate a list of results.
    5.    Select an underlined title to access the full description of the photograph. The descriptive records display images of photographs that have been digitized.

23andMe Provides An Update Regarding FDA’s Review

Good news - an update from 23andMe about their DNA test kits.  The company will stop offering new consumers access to health-related genetic tests but anyone who purchased their kit before November 22, 2013 will receive the health reports along with the genetic DNA reports.

If you purchased your kit on or after November 22nd you can get a full refund OR accept the genetic DNA reports minus the health report.

Read details at 23andMe Provides An Update Regarding FDA’s Review

A Genealogy Baker's Dozen Gift Ideas

Every year I publish a Christmas Wish List for Genealogists. Here are a few of my items from last year plus a few more. Start your Genealogy Christmas shopping now and surprise your loved ones (or yourself!) with a creative Genealogy gift.

1. Ancestry.com World Subscription (or any other genealogy subscription-based site you like)

2. Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner to take to Archives, Libraries and on field trips. Read my first review from November 2010 at Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner, Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

3. RootsTech Registration. Ask your loved one to register you for RootsTech 2014 coming up February 6 - 8, 2014

4. Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Scanner for PC and Mac (PA03656-B005)  I recently bought one of these and I am loving it! It's a wireless document feeder scanner. I can scan up to 25 items at once and they appear automatically on my computer in one file (or in Evernote or Dropbox or many other choices!)

5. Evernote Moleskine notebook. I don't have one and am pretty anxious to try it out! Apparently you write in the notebook and with a click of your smartphone camera, can transfer your notes to Evernote. See The New Evernote Smart Notebook by Moleskine

6. DNA Test Kit from Family Tree DNA (or any other DNA Testing company you prefer)
 
7.  Livescribe 8 GB Echo Smartpen for recording Family Stories and Memories. I love my SmartPen. I use it to record my 89 year old auntie's stories of her childhood, then I plug it into my laptop and the digital record transfers. Using the pen while auntie speaks, I make jot notes in the special notebooks. Then I can play the recorded stories by touching any word in the notebook. Very cool!

8. Don't miss out on this great opportunity. Byron Rempel of IDrawZombies.com can turn a photograph of you (or anyone else) into a zombie portrait. Rempel has been featured in Undead and Loving It in The National Post for his Art project 1000 Zombies. You can also obtain his Zombie Colouring Book to release your inner artist. The cost for the colouring book "Scrapbook of the Dead" is whatever you decide to pay - how cool is that?

9.  A subscription to the Genealogy Magazine of your choice. I'd like Family Tree Magazine, but the one you drool over could be very different

10. Jawbone JAMBOX This tiny powerful speaker allows you to connect via bluetooth to any other bluetooth enabled device (laptop, computer, iPhone, iPad etc) and play your favourite podcasts or listen to any audio with much better quality sound. I have one and I love it.

11. A beautiful journal for writing your own memoirs. I love Iona Handcrafted Books and have asked my hubby to buy me another one this Christmas as I'm on my last one. Tip: If the checkout won't accept a non-USA order, just email or phone as they do accept international orders.

12.  A Shutterfly gift certificate  I love Shutterfly for creating family photo books or calendars. It's also great for simply getting copies of your family photos so you can share them with family members

13. And in blatant self-promotion, how about asking for one of the genealogy and history books I have written and published?

Credits: "Santa Pushing Gift Bag" by digitalart on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Haag Kline Company Ledger Book, Bernville Berks County Pennsylvania

Ancestors At Rest and Olive Tree Genealogy have begun a new project to digitize unique one-of-a-kind ledger books which we own. As we digitize them we will bring them online as PDF files which can be downloaded. Each set of books will be published on the Ancestors At Rest website and announced here on the Olive Tree Genealogy blog. 

The ledger books encompass many locations with North America so you should watch this space to see if one of your ancestral places appears. We have court record books, meeting minutes, store ledgers, school roster books and much much more. The years range from the late 1790s to the mid 1900s.

Below is the first set of ledger books and an example of the type of detail you might find within. The ledger starts in November 1867 and ends in March 1877 and has over 1000 names.

1870 page from the Haag Kline Company Ledger book in Bernville, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Lists account balances due from individuals

• Haag Kline Company Bernville Berks County Pennsylvania 1863-1870 part 1.pdf
• Haag Kline Company Bernville Berks County Pennsylvania 1863-1870 part 2.pdf
• Haag Kline Company Bernville Berks County Pennsylvania 1863-1870 part 3.pdf

Brian has a write up about the Company at http://www.ancestorsatrest.com/genealogy_lookups/bernville_berks_county_pennsylvania_haag_ledger.shtml but to download the full book you must use the pdf file links above.  I will eventually put the pdf files on his site.

Is 23andMe in Trouble?

Many if not most of my readers will have heard that 23andMe (the DNA company founded by Ann Wojcicki has been slapped with a "discontinue marketing" order by the F.D.A. (Food and Drug Administration) as of November 22 this year.

In summary, the F.D.A. states that 23andMe is "marketing the 23andMe Saliva Collection Kit and Personal Genome Service (PGS) without marketing clearance or approval in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act). "

23andMe was given 15 working days from the date of the letter to correct issues which were detailed in the F.D.A. letter

23andMe Statement 

23andMe issued their own brief statement "An Update Regarding The FDA’s Letter to 23andMe" to the public on their blog dated November 26th. I find no further statements although the statement ends by stating they will provide further updates as they become available.

Affiliate Program Cancelled Suddenly

Now, in all likelihood, 23andMe will figure out some way to satisfy the F.D.A. However last night I received an email from 23andMe stating that their affiliate program has been cancelled. For those who don't know what an affiliate program is, that is where bloggers and website owners put up 23andMe ads on their blogs and sites. These ads earn a small commission if a sale of a DNA kit is made by someone going to the 23andMe site through the ad. 

The fact that 23andMe cancelled their program so abruptly and at such a time leads me to have a few more concerns. What's the worst that can happen? 23andMe could go out of business. The website could close. 

What Should You Do?

These are  worst-case scenarios but if you, like me, have had DNA tested at 23andMe I suggest you do two things:

1. Download your raw data. If 23andMe were to shut down, you would no longer have access to that data. So log in to your account, click on your profile name so you get the drop down menu, and choose "Browse Raw Data" When your data page loads, click the DOWNLOAD button. I have just downloaded all 3 of the accounts I manage on 23andMe (mine, my husband's and my brother's) 

2. Write to your 23andMe matches, give them your personal email address and request theirs. Right now you can only contact your matches through the 23andMe messaging system. So if the site goes down you will lose contact with these individuals. 

Update: Lori Thornton tells me that people can upload to GedMatch.com (for free) to have some abilities to triangulate. And Caroline Marshall Pointer adds that we can also transfer our raw data to  Family Tree DNA, which is currently offering a sale price of $49.00 to do so. 

Hopefully this will iron itself out but the new development of the Affiliate program being suddenly dropped makes me a bit nervous. So I'm being proactive. Remember, we have no idea what will happen and I've only presented the worst case scenarios. Everything could just go on as is but I always like to have a plan just in case.

More Cyber Monday Online Sales

Yesterday I told my readers about the Cyber Monday sales on Ancestry.com. You can get some great deals on DNA kits and subscriptions. Here's the list below in case you missed that blog post (But don't miss these Cyber Monday sales on the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner below the Ancestry.com list):

* 40% Off Family Tree Maker for Upgraders at Ancestry.com!


* 30% Off Family Tree Maker at Ancestry.com!


* Gift Sub: Give the Gift of an Ancestry membership for $99 only!


* DNA: Get AncestryDNA today only for $79 plus Free Shipping with code FREESHIPDNA


Flip Pal Mobile Scanner Specials

Free Shipping on orders of $145 or more in the USA and Canada!
(Applies to standard USPS service only. Does not apply to USPS Express service.)

Save $20 on the Flip-Pal mobile scanner and Deluxe Carry Case Bundle!
(Regular price $179.98, Sale price $159.98) Purchase this special on the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner

Save $25 on the Flip-Pal mobile scanner Rechargeable Bundle!
(Regular price $209.97, Sale price $184.97) Make sure you always have freshly charged batteries! This bundle includes the Flip-Pal mobile scanner, a Deluxe Flip-Pal mobile scanner Carry Case and an Eneloop Battery Charger with four AA Rechargeable Batteries. Purchase this special on the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner

Save $30 on the Flip-Pal mobile scanner Picture Keeper Bundle!
(Regular price $229.97, Sale price $199.97) Here’s your scan and backup solution! This bundle includes a Flip-Pal mobile scanner, a Deluxe Flip-Pal mobile scanner Carry Case and a Picture Keeper PK 8. Purchase this special on the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner 

Save $35 on the Flip-Pal mobile scanner Wi-Fi Travel Bundle!
(Regular price $264.96, Sale price $229.96) Wirelessly transfer scans to your smartphone or tablet—plus have freshly charged batteries! This bundle includes a Flip-Pal mobile scanner, a Deluxe Carry Case, an Eneloop Battery Charger with four AA Rechargeable Batteries and an Eye-Fi Mobi 8GB Wi-Fi SDHC Card. Purchase this special on the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner

Save $45 on the Flip-Pal mobile scanner Really Big Bundle!
(Regular price $288.93, Sale price $243.93) Do you want it all? This bundle includes a Flip-Pal mobile scanner, a Deluxe Carry Case, a Sketch Kit, a Picture Keeper PK 8, an Eneloop Battery Charger with four AA Rechargeable Batteries, a Cleaning Cloth and a Window Protector Sheets 3-pack. Purchase this special on the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner

WARNING! MediaFire Cloud Storage - 2 Thumbs Down

Recently I heard about MediaFire, a cloud storage service. According to their welcome page "With 50GB of free space, you can use MediaFire to backup all your important files—and even your not-so-important ones too."

It's important to note that there is no fine print, no caveat, no details and no other mention of the amount of space given to you when you sign up for MediaFire. 

So let me ask you how much space you BELIEVE you are given when you create an account - 50 GB?

Well if you thought that, you're wrong. You get 10 GB on signup. Yes, you can jump through hoops and earn more free space UP TO 50 GB but contrary to the implied message on their welcome page you do not start with 50 GB

Now I have no problem completing tasks to obtain more free space. What I have a problem with is the sneakiness of the message! Be aboveboard and honest and tell newcomers that they start with 10GB and can earn 40 more.

That was Strike One for me. 

But I started earning my extra GB. I created an avatar for which I was to get 1GB. It never got added to my account. I completed two other "tasks" and earned 4 GB. If I linked my Facebook and Twitter accounts I could earn more. I didn't like the sound of that as there is no need for my Social Media accounts to be linked. That was Strike Two. 

Then I started reading about some issues with MediaFire - among other issues was one that concerned me -  that private files were sometimes inadvertently shared with strangers. That was Strike Three and at that point I decided to delete my account.

Easier said than done! I could not find any way to delete the account I had opened. I consulted the Help File. The instructions were simple and clearly explained but when I followed them I had no "DELETE MY ACCOUNT" button on the page where it was supposed to be. Finally I wrote to Customer Support for help. 24 hours later I had my answer. Here is what they said:

"The delete button appears after the account has been open for at least 7 days.  Until then, the account cannot be deleted. "

Are they kidding me?? A new customer is held hostage for 7 days and cannot leave the service? Strike Four. I was flabbergasted and very annoyed so I replied that I did not wish to keep my account open for 7 days. I demanded they delete my account for me since I had no way of doing that.

I should note that I also posted on their Facebook page, and tweeted them on their Twitter account with no response.

Five days passed and MediaFire Customer Support had not responded. Strike Five.  I wrote again thanking them for providing me with such terrific material for the negative review I would be writing on my blog. I mentioned the review ould be posted on Twitter, Pinterest, Google + and Facebook. I demanded they delete my account on my behalf.

Within 2 hours I had a response. Interesting that it took a threat of a negative review to elicit any response let alone such a quick one! Strike Six

Their response? Here it is: 

"Unfortunately that is the only way to delete an account. We are not holding any hostage. We are ensuring that you have time to test the services we offer and it is our way to reduce the amount of garbage accounts.

After seven days from when you created your account you will be able to log in and delete it."

On Day 7 I followed instructions in the Help File, found the DELETE MY ACCOUNT button which had magically appeared on my page, and deleted my account. 

On Day 9, using a different browser, I returned to MediaFire and tried my login information. I did this because at this point I do not trust this service. Lo and behold MY ACCOUNT STILL EXISTS! I can see my files, my account name, the fact that I earned more GB and have a total of 14 GB of space etc.

On the Account and Billing Information page, which is where the DELETE MY ACCOUNT button appeared after 7 days of being held hostage, that button is no longer there. 

I will be writing to MediaFire Customer Support again but meantime I urge others to give MediaFire a pass. Use a reliable cloud storage service such as Dropbox which does not use trickery or strongarm tactics to keep its customers. 

And wish me luck in getting my account deleted once and for all.

Black Friday Online Genealogy Specials

* Family Tree DNA:

Free $100 Gift Card

Every Family Finder purchase comes with a free $100 Restaurant.com gift card. You can keep it for yourself or treat someone to a meal!  It's our way of saying thank you.

10% OFF 2+

Give the perfect gift this season to a loved one. Genealogy helps bridge the gaps in your Family Tree and assists in learning more about your roots. This applies when you order 2 Family Finder tests from Family Tree DNA

*Fold3
Upgrade to annual membership. 40% off on Fold3

* Shutterfly

10 free Holiday Cards. Promo Code BLACKFRIDAY at Shutterfly 

Credits: "Black Friday Sticker" by Iamnee on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Did President Truman Pardon a Turkey?

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. We Canadians have already celebrated our Thanksgiving back in October but no matter when you celebrate, it's a day of gathering with family and enjoying the holiday feast! 

And of course the traditional Turkey with Stuffing appears on almost every table today. 

Not all countries or cultures celebrate Thanksgiving but if you do then I wish you the happiest of holidays today! 

But did President Truman once pardon a turkey destined to be dinner one Thanksgiving many years ago? 

Read the story at A History of the Presidential Turkey Pardon

Credits: Image  Thanksgiving turkey for the President, 11/26/29 from the Library of Congress
http://hdl.loc.gov/

Mysterious Package of Rev. J. E. Foote in 1912 Time Capsule

1920 Census James E. Foote

Recently a 1912 Time Capsule in Trinity Episcopal Church in Grand Ledge Michigan was opened. Inside were the usual items - photographs, newspapers, etc. But one item was a package from the Rev. J. E. Foote who labelled himself as "Congregational Minister" Rev. Foote included instructions on the package wrapping that the package was to be delivered to his descendants for opening.

The problem is that Church members have no idea who Rev. Foote was. His package is not listed in the Church list of items placed in the Time Capsule. 

Matt Novak of Paleofuture wrote about this in a story called Mysterious Package Found in Century-Old Time Capsule

Anyone wishing to help in the search for Rev. Foote and his descendants can join in the discussion on Mr. Novak's article.

I did a quick search and found that the James E. Foote age 41 is found in the 1910 census for Antrim Michigan and is listed as "Minister - Church". His wife Maud is 39, and their children are Ruth (17), Mary (16) , Edward (14) and Arthur (13). 

In 1920 James E. Foote is in Grand Ledge Michigan with his wife Maude, son James A. Foote, daughters Ruth Bendall and Mary Shearer and a grand daughter Jean Shearer. He is listed as a bookkeeper for the Parish church.

I have no doubt that my wonderful super sleuth readers can find a descendant of the Rev. James E. Foote. 

RootsIreland Specials

This announcement was sent out by Roots Ireland. Something to think about if you have Irish ancestors!

Rootsireland.ie is delighted to announce that all records will have a discount of 40% until Wednesday, December 4th 2013 (midnight IrishTime/GMT). You can purchase any record for just 15 credits instead of the usual 25 credits.
 
To obtain this offer just go to the following site and login using your existing IFHF login details. http://www.rootsireland.ie
We now have over 20 million records online and recently added further records from Counties Armagh and Monaghan.

Is Your Genealogy Family History Backed Up and Safe?

Recently this story appeared on a British website Burglars steal a laptop holding family history

It seems a local chauffeur had his home broken into and several items stolen. Among the stolen items was a laptop which contained a 12-year family history project which his father, aged 87, had been working on. 

And you guessed it, there were no backup copies. Ouch! 

The prudent thing to do is protect your genealogy research! Back it up in a cloud storage site, on a flash drive, on an external hard drive, or wherever. Make more than one copy and don't have them all in one home. Give one to your brother or sister or son or daughter or a friend. 

That way if you have a fire or flood or are burgled, all your family data will not be lost. Remember that old adage - don't put all your eggs in one basket

That holds true for genealogy research and family tree data as well. Keep it safe and don't lose what you have probably spent years compiling.

I use Drobox and Bitcasa as my cloud storage and I also have Western Digital MyBookLive for a personal cloud storage system networked to all my laptops and computers. 

As well I have Western Digital Passports for a portable external hard drive system where I can store my files. You can read my review of all of these at Five Cloud Storage Services Revisited

I also like to create  books on Shutterfly which hold a summary of the family ancestors along with photos and scanned documents. I keep one copy for myself and gift other copies to my children and siblings. The more places I can put my family trees the more chance they will survive. 

If you've never created a book using Shutterfly you may want to watch my Shutterfly video tutorials showing how at Creating a Memory Book - Video Tutorials 

Credits: image of burglar by chanpipat  and image of "Cloud Computing Devices" by ddpavumba on FreeDigitalPhotos.net
 

New study claims that Irishmen descended from Turkish farmers

A new study has revealed that many Irish men may be able to trace their roots back to Turkey.

Research indicates Turkish farmers arrived in Ireland about 6,000 years ago, bringing agriculture with them. And they may have been more attractive than the hunter-gatherers whom they replaced.

DNA testing of the Y chromosome in men conducted by scientists at the University of Leicester revealed that 85% of Irish men are descended from farming people from the Middle East and especially Turkey.

Interested in having your DNA tested? Here are two sites worth using:

Family Tree DNA or  23andMe.com

Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/New-study-claims-that-Irishmen-descended-from-Turkish-farmers-83217437.html#ixzz2lZYvCoji

Looking for WW2 Canadian Soldiers in Belgium

Olive Tree Genealogy received the following note as a comment on one of my blog posts. I don't usually post such items but decided this request was intriguing enough to warrant its own placement here. 

Mr. Landsheer was willing to have his email published so if you can help, please post your information here in the comments section and also send it to Mr. Landsheer's email.

Here is his note:
 
I am from Belgium and looking for information about Canadian soldiers during WW2. During the war Gent was liberated by Canadian soldiers. Some of these men stayed by the local people of Gent. Some stayed by my grandparents. Both sides kept contact by writing letters. 

Here some information about some soldiers: 

Name Mac Leod Roy his wife Evelin and son Laurie adress: 338 St George Moncton New Brunswick Canada Army unit: C Comp. North S. Regiment C.A.O. 

Name: Eddy Duggan (soldier)his father William Duggan Toronto - Ontario 

Name: Wilkinson Johnny adress: 548 8av and 6419 - 11the Rosemount Montreal 

 Name: Miss Cappi mother of one of the soldiers 

I look forward to more information and I hope some still alive. 

My name: yves De Landsheer landscamp@gmail.com 


Credits: "Lost Or Found Directions" by Stuart Miles on FreeDigitalPhotos.Net

New Map Feature on Pinterest is Pretty Cool

 

Pinterest has a new feature - the ability to add maps to your boards and pins.  Basically you create a board - here's mine which I just created this morning. It's called Ancestors' Homes. 

Then you start adding your pins. I decided to add photos of my ancestors, but I could have added any picture (census record, a building, etc) - and it can come from a website or my own computer.

After you add a pin you add the map by typing in the name of the city or town that you want to pin to your photo. 

When you are done, you will see a larger map (as you see here above on the right) which shows all your pins. The pins are on my map are numbered so you can match them to the pictures you put on your board.

This seems to have many genealogical aspects as you could create boards that show immigration patterns or your ancestors' burial spots or birth locations and so on. 

I've only got 3 pins so far on my one map board but wanted to share this new feature with you before heading back to Pinterest to add more. If you want to follow my boards on Pinterest, just go to my boards at Lorine MS

Family Search Update of Records from Austria, Brazil, Italy, South Africa & USA

FamilySearch Adds More Than 3.2 Million Indexed Records and Images to Collections from Austria, Brazil, Italy, South Africa, and the United States

FamilySearch has added more than 3.2 million indexed records and images from Austria, BillionGraves, Brazil, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Spain, and the United States.

Notable collection updates include the 1,157,399 images from the Brazil, São Paulo, Immigration Cards, 1902–1980, collection, the 324,226 images from the newSouth Africa, Eastern Cape, Estate Files, 1962–2004 and South Africa, Western Cape, Estate Files, 1966–2004, collections, and the 71,367 indexed records from the U.S., Minnesota, Naturalization Card Index, 1930–1988, collection 

Search these diverse collections and more than 3.5 billion other records for free at FamilySearch.org.

Defying Age

This video is inspiring. It focuses on 6 women, all seniors and all amazing in their confidence, sense of personal style and outlook on life and aging.

It really has very little to do with genealogy except for the fact that genealogists all age (as does everyone). And I think it's important to age well, that is, to leave a memory of oneself behind that your descendants will be proud of or at least will talk about!

I think I personally have lost some of my daring and self-confidence as I've aged. I refuse to let age defeat me though even though I do have mobility issues. When I use my cane in public I realize that others perceive me as frail and old. But I refuse to give in to those perceptions and the women in this video have inspired me to be even stronger.

So for all the senior female genealogists reading my blog, and for the younger women too, please do watch this video and let it (hopefully) inspire you too.