The Value of Maps

Just recently I was evaluating the value of maps in family history research.  As part of a program, I reflected on a story Dad used to tell:

His grandparents, John H. Brubaker and Ellen Tiernan owned land in western Nebraska.  The farmers and ranchers in the area had decided that they would collectively pay for a school teacher.  A school house was built nearby and all of the children were sent.  The Brubakers had three sons, all very handsome and charismatic.  According to Dad, for three years in a row, the school had to hire a new teacher because each woman that came out to teach would inevitably marry a Brubaker boy.

Until recently, I had never given much credibility to this story.  But, I was able to visit Alliance, Nebraska.  The museum there is really quite nice.  Inside the museum/archives in Alliance I encountered a plat map of the area.  There on the map was my grandfather’s land.  And just south and west of his land was a school house!  Maybe Dad’s story is not such a stretch after all.

Here is a copy of the map.  You can make up your own mind.  Regardless of the veracity of the story, the discovery on this map was exciting.

Jane Hislop Brubaker--Growing Up in Huntsville

Another bit of oral history from Jane Hislop Brubaker.  “Daddy” is Charles Henry Hislop and “Mama” is Mabel Hislop.  These are some of Jane’s earliest memories of growing up during the Depression in the 1930s

Daddy was a sheep-herder until ’35. I was about three years old when he came home. He was sick. And the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him. Anyway, he came home, and he was home for a couple of years.  We didn’t have anything, because Daddy was sick and Mama bought some chickens. She rented a chicken coop when we were there, in back of the house. We raised chickens, but then one day the chicken coop caught on fire and all the chickens burned up.

We didn’t have anything when Daddy was sick. We were really poor. But he had, Daddy had, he was so tired all the time, and he just didn’t have any energy. We went to the doctor, and the doctor said it was his teeth. His teeth were rotten. They might have been. But anyway, they pulled all his teeth. He was still sick. So one of his friends came over and made him go to a different doctor. And he went to that doctor and he had Anemia.  So they put him on iron pills and he got better. But he was really, really sick for four or five years there.

Mom and Dad's First Date

This was edited from an oral history I collected from Mom (Jane Hislop Brubaker) in 2008.  Mom’s birthday is coming up, she would have been 82 years old.  I’m posting this because I am thinking of both her and Dad.  Happy Birthday Mom.

We had a party one night. We decided to have a party at one of the girls’ homes, but we didn’t have any men to invite, because we didn’t know any. So Mary Marvella brought over all these boys from Nampa. Which, Eddie was one of them. We went to a bar. I remember we were dancing. I mean, we were there, and everybody started dancing except I wasn’t dancing. And here comes Eddie and says, “Dance with me.” So I said OK, and I danced with him. And then he spun me around, and when I got back around I couldn’t find him. I’ll never forget that. He had a coat rack in his arms. And he was dancing with that and he said, “Oh, Janie.  Janie, you’ve lost so much weight.” And I thought, “Oh, God, how funny a guy he is!” That’s how I met him.

After that, well, I didn’t see him again for a long time. And then instead of Eddie calling me, Willy Marvella called me and asked me to go out.

Finally Eddie called me one night and asked me to go out with him. And I said, yeah, I would. But guess what? He never showed. He stood me up!  He didn’t show that first time. And the second time he called me, he asked me to go out with him, and I went. He told me that he had to be home because his brother Pat came to town. And he was in service, I think, or something.  I didn’t put up a fight with him or nothing. I just said yes. And he showed. I don’t remember where we went. 

Mom, I think all five of your children are glad you gave Dad a second chance at a date!

Some Memories About Growing During the Depression

Watching a train with some coal cars pass by the other day I remembered a story Dad used to tell about growing up during the Depression of the 1930s.  Dad was born in 1928, so he was maybe 8 years old when he did this:  In order to heat the house in Idaho, the kids in the neighborhood would listen for the trains to travel by.  As the train would lumber by, the kids would throw rocks at the locomotive and the cars.  In response, the engineer and the fireman would throw wood or coal, whichever they were burning, back at the kids.  The kids would then gather up all of the coal and wood to take home and burn in the stoves or furnaces.  There was never anything malicious about this daily event.  Everyone, the trainmen and the children, understood that this was a way to help everyone in the neighborhood.  Afterall, the entire country was suffering from the depression, this was simply an informal way to give to the less fortunate in the community; to provide a free resource to heat their homes.

Still, another way to heat the house, a man in the neighborhood went to every house and explained how to by-pass the gas meter. Then when the gas reader came by to read the meter, one neighbor would stall him while the rest of the neighborhood removed the evidence of the by-pass.  Dad remembered that the man that introduced all of this went to jail.  But the rest of the neighborhood continued to survive.

The lesson in all of this is that the community worked together for the survival of all.  There was no “survival of the fittest” mentality.  It was more of a “we’re all in this together” concept.

We hear about the depression era mentality when then generation of Americans hate to waste anything.  I also wonder if there isn’t a greater sense of charity and compassion in that same generation because they all grew up working together to insure the well being of everyone in the neighborhood.

Parentage: The Complexities of Genealogy

I have been sitting on this particular article for more than a year, debating whether to post or not. Well, a recent article in the New York Times has convinced me that I should sent this out. So, here goes:

A few years ago, in her office as First Lady, Hilary Clinton wrote a book titled, It Takes a Village. Although the book doesn’t have anything to do with Genealogy or Family History, the title implies an interesting idea for the field of Genealogy. Is a blood line truly the most important consideration in researching family history? If a person is adopted, does that diminish their family history? If it is impossible to trace their family line, does that diminish the research potential?

Sometime ago, I mentioned on my blog (www.historybybrubaker.blogspot.com 26 July 2007) that an author had estimated that in some communities in the country 25 percent of all Americans do not know, or have a misconception about their parentage. If this statistic is accurate, how does that affect Genealogy and Family History?

Here is where Hilary Clinton’s book ties into this discussion. Maybe we should consider the issue of environment over genetics. Is it more important to consider the parents a person grows up with, rather than the individual’s genetic make-up? The “nature vs. nurture” debate will go on forever. In genealogy and family history this is a very personalized question and the answer can be as simple or complex as you want. Do you consider the man and woman who raised you your parents? Or, do we really need to track down the sperm donor in an effort to complete our family trees?

And, with the advances in science, what does all of this do to our family trees? The questions become more and more difficult to answer. Because Family History is such a personalized process, how you answer the questions are also very personal. The discussion, though, will challenge us all.

This Microfilm Will Self Destruct in 30 Seconds

Although the headline is a bit dramatic, I couldn't help myself.

A report today in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter stated that the LDS Church History Library in Salt Lake City was evacuated yesterday when flammable microfilm was discovered by an archivist. (Dick made a reference to the old television series and I decided to carry it a bit further)).

A 72 mm roll of film, inside a canister, was found to be deteriorating. It is easy to identify this stuff, because the film, as it breaks down, gives off a very distinctive ammonia type odor. The nitrate film is very combustible and capable of bursting into flames, or actually exploding.

In the case in Salt Lake, the library was evacuated. The film was removed and taken to a local landfill where it was detonated!

I think, beyond the safety concerns, what is important is the fact that film doesn't last forever. Although we, as researchers, are moving away from paper maybe we should rethink our actions. We can't count on film to keep our documents. Nor, can we count on digital records for any type of permanence. Here is another example proving that paper is the most stable and durable of products to save records.

Printing our important records and saving them in a box may still be the best action for researching and recording our family history.

Fiction and Fantasy Sometime Mix

Here is a really unusual story combining history and fiction. For Family Historians and Harry Potter fans, this story has everything!

----

The family of a real life Harry Potter who was killed in the army
claim that his grave has been turned into a tourist attraction by fans
of the hit book and movie series seeking their fictional hero. Private
Harry Potter was serving overseas when he died in Israel in 1939
during an uprising. His grave had gone unnoticed in the British
Military Cemetery in the town of Ramla for more than half a century.

But now the headstone has become an unlikely tourist attraction
because of J K Rowling's much-loved books and movies. Sightseers have
had their photos taken next to the grave, while the local tourist
board has listed it as an official attraction. And even though Mr
Potter, from Kidderminster, Worcs., would have led an active life in
the army, it is far removed from the magic and spells of the fictional
Harry Potter. Pvt Potter's surviving family members have come forward
to reveal the years of heartache they suffered after his untimely
death.

Ken Potter, 77, was just six years old when his elder brother was
ambushed and killed while driving back to a base near Hebron in
Israel. 'Harry has never left our thoughts,' said the former
greengrocer, from Kidderminster. 'He is with us all the time, even
though he died such a very long time ago. 'We were just young kids
when it happened, all I was bothered about at that time was going and
playing. 'But I remember a policeman came to our door to give mum and
dad the news. They were very upset but we didn't really know what was
happening. 'All I can really remember about Harry is one time him
carrying me about by the fireplace. 'It was so long ago and I was so
young, but I never forget his face." Fellow brother Derek, 82, also
recalled their parents Edith and David, who had eight children,
finding out about their son's tragic end. 'I can remember our parents
being very upset but they kept it to themselves," said the retired
carpet maker, also from Kidderminster.

'They kept the war from us because we were just kids, but you could
tell something was very wrong. 'It was hard because a letter from
Harry arrived the day after the policeman came to tell us.' The
poignant personal note read: 'Dear Mother, I am getting on alright. I
expect to be home for Christmas. If I am not, it is a bit of bad luck.
'I hope dad is still in work. Tell Ken I am not forgetting his bike. I
hope Alice (his older sister) is alright. 'You perhaps have been
reading the papers. 'I am not boasting but listen to the news on the
wireless and listen to what work we in the Worcester shires have been
doing. 'Well, I think that is all for now. 'Cheerio, Crash Harry.'

The latest film in the blockbuster movie series Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows was released two weeks ago. The film is based on the
book which was released in 2007 as the last in the series of novel
about the fictional wizard at Hogwarts school. A staggering 44 million
copies of the book were sold around the world just eight months after
it was published.

But despite his late brother and the boy wizard sharing the same name,
Ken admits he has never watched the films. 'I've seen bits of them
fleetingly on the TV but I have never properly watched them," added
the dad-of-two. 'Actually, I never really twigged that Harry shared
the name with the film character. 'It was my sister's son who first
found out about the interest in his grave about three years ago while
on the internet. 'We couldn't believe people visit his grave, but
apparently they come from miles around to have their photo taken next
to it.' The real Harry Potter left his family's home in Kidderminster
to join the army in Birmingham in 1938. The 17 year-old lad was
desperate to serve his country, so lied about his age, telling the
recruiting sergeant he was a year older. He spent eight months
training with the 1st Battalion Worcestersire Regiment in Aldershot,
Hampshire, before being ordered to Palestine in September 1938.

His unit was garrisoned in the area to battle an Arab uprising, and
Pvt Potter was a driver in the Motor Transport section, where he
gained the 'Crash Harry' nickname. During spring 1939, he was based at
Deir Sha'ar, near Hebron. On July 22 of that year he was driving back
to the camp in convoy when they were ambushed by armed bandits. Pvt
Potter and fellow soldier Pvt Joseph Darby were killed in the attack.
But despite being given the tragic news soon after his death, it would
be 50 years before the family found out the exact circumstances.

Ken, married to wife Shirley for 56 years, said: "About 15 years ago a
fella came into the shop and said he was with Harry when he died.
'That was how we finally found out what had happened. 'He said Harry
had been shot by a Shot sniper during the attack while they were
driving back to the base. 'We had not known exactly what had happened
to Harry until that day. The chap was old when he came to see me and
has probably died now, but it was only through him we knew how Harry
died.'

Brother Derek is still the proud owner of Harry's campaign medal from
the Palestine conflict. Two more of Harry Potter's siblings are also
still alive and well in Kidderminster. His sister Joyce is 88 years
old, while youngest brother Ray, 75, has named his pet dog Harry after
his long lost brother. And there is one other spooky link to the boy
wizard. Harry's father David acquired a scar on his forehead, just
like the fictional character, while in the trenches during the Great
War. Ken added: 'Dad had a scar on his forehead from the First World
War. 'He was shot across the forehead when he was in the trenches.
They operated on him and put a metal plate in his head. 'He was never
the same after he came back from the war." As for visiting Harry's
grave, none of the family has been able to make the journey, despite
an invitation from the town's mayor. Ken, who served in the Korean War
with the Enniskillen Dragoon Guards while doing National Service,
added: 'The mayor of Ramla did once invite us to visit.

'We would love to go, but things just kind of trailed off and we
didn't hear any more. 'I know Ramla can be a bit of a dangerous place,
so I'm not sure if we will ever be able to see it.'

--

And thanks to the History Net listserv for bringing this story to light. It was originally published on the DailyMailonline.

Memoirs Serve a Valuable Purpose

The following article from the Grand Forks Herald makes a compelling argument why everyone should record their memoirs and family histories. Time and again, these histories have proven to provide valuable insight into the past.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/184879/

So, record those personal histories. Family members and future historians will thank you for it.

And thanks to Dick Eastman for bringing this article to my attention.

Ancestry Acquires Footnote! Oh My!

The following announcement I found on Genealogyblog.com, thanks to Leland Meitzler for bringing this to our attention.


PROVO, Utah, September 23, 2010 – Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOM) announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire iArchives, Inc. and its branded Web site, Footnote.com, a leading American History Web site, for approximately $27 million in a mix of Ancestry.com stock, cash and assumption of liabilities. This acquisition will provide the company with a complementary consumer brand, expanded content offerings, and enhanced digitization and image-viewing technologies.

iArchives digitizes and delivers high-quality images of American historical records of individuals involved in the Revolutionary War, Continental Congress, Civil War, and other US historical events to Footnote.com subscribers interested in early American roots. iArchives has digitized more than 65 million original source documents to date through its proprietary digitization process for paper, microfilm and microfiche collections.

“Footnote.com is highly complementary to Ancestry.com’s online family history offering,” said Tim Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ancestry.com. “By promoting Footnote to our Ancestry audience, we hope to expand its reach among researchers who care about early American records. iArchives also brings outstanding image-viewing technology and content digitization capabilities that will improve our leadership position in bringing valuable historical records to the market. We welcome the iArchives team to the Ancestry.com family.”

Upon completion of the transaction, iArchives will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ancestry.com. As part of the transaction, Ancestry.com currently expects to issue approximately 1.0 million shares of common stock. The transaction is subject to various closing conditions and is expected to close early in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Ancestry.com also announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program of up to approximately $25 million of its common stock. Under the authorization, share repurchases may be made by the Company from time to time in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions depending on market conditions, share price and other factors and may include accelerated or forward or similar stock repurchases and/or Rule 10b5-1 plans. Part of the rationale for the repurchase is to offset dilution of equity resulting from the iArchives acquisition. No time limit was set for the completion of this program. The share repurchase program may be modified or discontinued at any time by the Board of Directors.

About Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOM) is the world’s largest online family history resource, with approximately 1.3 million paying subscribers. More than 5 billion records have been added to the site in the past 13 years. Ancestry users have created more than 19 million family trees containing over 1.9 billion profiles. Ancestry.com has local Web sites directed at nine countries, including its flagship Web site at www.ancestry.com.

About iArchives
iArchives is a leading digitization service provider that also operates Footnote.com, a subscription Web site that features searchable original documents, providing over 35,000 paying subscribers with a view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit www.footnote.com.

Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or to future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “appears,” “may,” “designed,” “expect,” “intend,” “focus,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “should,” “continue” or “work” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements include statements concerning among other things, the proposed transaction between Ancestry.com and iArchives, Inc., including the consummation and anticipated timing of the transaction as well as the expected benefits of the proposed transaction, and the effects of the proposed transaction on Ancestry.com, our subscriber base, our reach, our activities to enhance subscribers’ experience, our business outlook, our leadership position and our opportunities and prospects for growth. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this press release. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include a variety of factors, some of which are beyond our control. In particular, such risks and uncertainties include the risk that the transaction does not close when anticipated, or at all; difficulties encountered in integrating acquired businesses and retaining customers, and the additional difficulty of integration when continuing the acquired operation; the adverse impact of competitive product announcements; failure to achieve anticipated revenues and operating performance; changes in overall economic conditions; the loss of key employees; competitors’ actions; pricing and gross margin pressures; inability to control costs and expenses; and significant litigation.

Information concerning additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements is contained under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2010, and in discussions in other of our SEC filings.

These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date and we assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.


Being the cynical person that I am, I wonder if this is a good thing? Dominating access to scanned documents can only lead to greater expenses and elitism in the fields of Genealogy and Family History. Can this be a good thing? I acknowledge the enormous expense with digitization. And, I appreciate the risks and investments of Ancestry, Footnote, Genealogybank, and others. But, I still wonder where we are going and the costs that will be incurred as we get there?

Century Farms A New Avenue for Family History

This past week, in between multiple meetings and unpacking boxes, something interesting has become apparent to me. I suppose it is simply my failure to think and make connections, but researching for the Century Farms Program is a new twist to genealogy and family history.

The Century Farms program documents farms within the individual states that have remained in one family for more than 100 years. In addition, some states have programs to honor sesquicentennial farms, or farms that have been in a family for 150 years. The state of Tennessee has a program known as the Pioneer Farms that honors family farms of at least 200 years. By conducting an in-depth search, you can find farms in the New England area that have been in one family for 300 or more years. To contemplate one family owning the same land since 1700 is amazing.

In order to search any of these farms, the family genealogy and the family history needs to be researched and developed. This enhances the fascination of all of this. Here is a new tool, a new use for genealogy and family history research. It really is quite exciting.

Why I Collect Oral History

The other day I collected an oral history from a man nearing his 80th birthday. After recording a portion of his life story I began to think about the process and the justifications for collecting oral histories. Before I go too far, I should include the disclaimer that yes more than a few people see me as a bit unusual. To quote one, former employer, “Mike is an odd little fellow.” So, I can accept the strange looks and uncomfortable laughter when I tell people I collect oral histories as an avocation, something I do simply because I enjoy it.

But, back to the main point, I met with John the other day and after interviewing him, it occurred to me that the clichés that are thrown out about the importance of oral histories are true. The saying, “when a man dies, a library is burned,” or “there is no such thing as a boring life,” these accurately sum up my thinking about collecting oral histories. Every story is important. Every detail is worth telling and saving. More students of local history, family history, and genealogy ought to be encouraged to collect more oral history.

Every man and woman is an interesting story waiting to be unveiled and recorded. The small dramas in our lives; the major decisions we make; and the challenges that we face all make up a lifetime of fascinating history. And these stories need to be recorded and told. John had some interesting stories to tell: about his military service in Korea and his life after the war. He told me about meeting his wife, raising his children, and working hard to provide for them. Although we only spoke for forty-five minutes, this brief live story is a fascinating study in life and well worth the time to record, transcribe and review.

Collecting oral histories is an interesting process. It provides a sense of achievement and satisfaction to both the collector and the subject. This may be something I do in my spare time, and my friends have accepted me as “that odd little fellow.” But the pleasure of the process encourages me to promote the idea that more people should collect oral histories and save family histories through tapes, cd’s and transcriptions. After all, “there is no such thing as a boring life.”

Tennessee Newspapers to be Dgitized

For researchers in Tennessee the good news is that digitized newspapers will be available for research in two years. The even better news is that, often, newspapers published information that crossed the borders. This same work may be useful for Georgia research.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/U-of-Tennessee-Wins-Grant-to/24906/

And thanks to Leland Meitzler and his blog, www.genealogyblog.com for bringing this article to my attention

New Inspiration For Research

I just recently finished reading the book Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Although it is intended primarily to promote women’s history, the book contains an important idea for all historians, particularly Genealogists and Family Historians. The point being that we need to search every avenue for clues and evidence of all history, we can’t simply accept the published and written records.

Dr. Ulrich makes the point that in Women’s History there is a serious shortage of records and evidence of the lives of everyday women. Unless a woman made news, most often through some type of “mis-behavior,” the records are sparse. In Family History and Genealogy, this is true for our female ancestors, but also many of our male ancestors as well. The result being that many of our ancestors, particularly the ones that didn't make the news, are quickly forgotten and overlooked. As Family Historians we need to willingly explore every avenue of research and information. Sometimes, we need to think outside of the strict areas of research and be willing to explore unusual records and evidence for the existence of our ancestors.

Well-Behaved Women has ignited new enthusiasm for my own research. I have several ancestors who have completely disappeared. I am determined now to think of new avenues of research. I hope to explore maps, legal documents, newspapers and other materials with a fresh outlook to find new clues about my ancestors and their lives.

Thanks to Dr. Ulrich’s book I have a new source of inspiration to push my research along.

Revolutionary War Resource

I have been introduced to a very interesting webpage, useful to anyone researching revolutionary war service in the South.

www.southerncampaign.org

This is a very interesting site that provides transcriptions of pension records and applications from Veterans of the Revolution. This is a very exciting place to visit. This opens up all kinds of access for researchers looking to explore the war in the South.

And, special thanks to Jim Trayler for introducing me to this page.

Sharing Information Is The Most Basic of Research Tools

Just the other night I had the opportunity to speak to a group of historians, genealogists, and family historians in a meeting of a local chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. It was a fine meeting. We had the opportunity to talk about different resources for research in North Georgia and share “war stories” about our research time.

After the meeting, as I driving home, it occurred to me that I had participated in one of the most essential of all aspects of family history research. Sharing our information and trading details and research techniques provides an opportunity for camaraderie. In addition it provides specifics about our own research challenges and that way enhance our skills and capabilities. Exchanging ideas makes us all better researchers.

Talking about my own research is one of the most difficult challenges I personally face. I was raised in a family that emphasized modesty, “you never blow your own horn.” People who know me may doubt this, but because of my upbringing, talking about myself and my work is something I have had to consciously struggle to become comfortable with. But, this is something we all need to do to become better researchers and genealogists. We need to share our information and become willing to talk about our research, our achievements, and our failures. Striving for this will make us all better family historians.

Preserve The Pensions! Project

The Federation of Genealogical Societies has announced a fundraising plan to help preserve and digitize pension records for the War of 1812.

A goal of $3.7 million has been set to digitize more than 7.2 million documents in more than 180,000 files. As anyone who has used pension files int heir research can attest, these records contain a wealth of information for Family Historians and Genealogists. Not only do the files list the service of the veteran, it also provides details about the spouse and dependents.

If you want more details, or are interested in supporting the project, contact Curt Wilcher, the Vice President of Development, FGS, at 260-421-1226, or go to the FGS web page at:
www.fgs.org/1812

New Digitized Newspapers

A new resource that is very cool has come on-line. I haven't had much opportunity to work with it, but the Digital Library of Georgia has posted a collection of Atlanta newspapers on their webpage. The newspapers seem to be every word searchable which is a great resource for genealogy and family history. You may want to explore the page for yourself at:


http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu

This is interesting stuff.

More Bad Economic News For Family Historians

News coming out of Houston, Texas is that hours are being cut for the Clayton Public Library, this includes access to the Genealogy Library. In an announcement posted yesterday, the Clayton Library Friends posted the new hours. Remarkably, the libraries are closing on Friday!

Below is a portion of the announcement:

On Thursday, April 1st, 2010, Dr. Rhea Lawson, Director, Houston Public Library, presented a report to the City Council concerning a required reduction of operating hours in all Houston libraries (including special collections) due to drastic budget cuts city-wide. This proposal had already been approved by Mayor Parker prior to its presentation to council.

Effective April 17th, 2010, open hours at Clayton Library for Genealogical Research hours will be:
Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 10-6;
Wednesday 10-8;
Saturday 10-5;
Library CLOSED on Friday and Sunday

I don't even pretend to understand the reasoning behind this decision. In my experience, Friday and Saturdays are the busiest days for library research. Why they are closing on Saturday is an unfortunate mystery.

For the full announcement go to:

http://www.claytonlibraryfriends.org/Content-Public/Page-Edit/Page.asp?iID=-395381400

and, thanks to Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter for bringing this to my attention.

Never Too Late To Start

Here is another example, from the Nashua, NH, Telegraph newspaper that it is never too late, or too early, to start searching for your ancestors. And, as the story concludes, the process is addictive.

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/695263-196/search-for-grandmastarts-opening-doors.html?i=1

Thanks to the NEHGS newsletter for bringing this article to my attention.

A Cautionary Tale For All Historians

There is an interesting blog posted for oral historians that may be of interest to a variety of family historians and genealogists, as well.

http://blog.oup.com/2010/03/false-light-lawsuit/

The blog writes of presenting information in false light that could lead to lawsuits and judgements against writers, genealogists, and Family Historians. Be sure to avoid implications of spectacular tales as you write. Although scandal within the family may be interesting, it can also be harmful so we need to use caution as we write our family histories.

And special thanks to the Oral History list-serv for bringing this blog to my attention.