Join us on October 29 for our Virtual Family History Benefit Event honoring author and historian Jill Lepore, who will speak on "American Ancestors: Reading Portraits."
Lepore is a staff writer at the New Yorker, host of the Last Archive podcast, and an award-winning author of many books, including the international bestseller These Truths: A History of the United States.Learn more and register.
Special FaceBook Live Event: All Things Macabre
Join Chief Genealogist David Allen Lambert live on Facebook on Friday, October 23, 3-4 p.m. (EDT) for a special lecture and Q&A on all things macabre -- cemeteries, witches, death records, and more. Ask questions during the live session or submit them in advance to facebooklive@nehgs.org.
Online Course: 17th-Century English Research
Genealogist Else Churchill of the Society of Genealogists will provide practical research strategies, an overview of essential and lesser-known resources, and illustrative case studies to take your research to the next level.
Live Sessions: October 28, November 4, 11, and 18; 2-3:30 p.m. (EDT/EST). Access through February 28, 2021. Learn more and register.
New Issue of Mayflower Descendant
Our newest issue features a special editorial by NEHGS and American Ancestors President and CEO D. Brenton Simons, and articles covering the following families: Brown, Brownell, Carwer, Chilton, Church, Closson, Crandall, Crawford, Delano, Doley, Fuller, Grinnell, Hemingway, Jones, Marsh, Morton, Reed, Richards, Rowley, Standish, and Westgate. Read or subscribe now.
Spotlight: British Columbia, Canada
by Valerie Beaudrault, Assistant Editor
The district municipality of Vanderhoof is located in the center of British Columbia, Canada. The Vanderhoof Public Library's "Bill Silver Digital Newspaper Archive" provides access to the Vanderhoof Herald (1917-1920), Nechako Chronicle (1920-1983), and Omineca Express (1982-1989 and 1991-2007). Search by keyword and narrow your search by newspaper title. Click the date link for a PDF of the page. Search Now.
Online Event: Finding Unexpected DNA Results
Join us for a live panel discussion featuring genealogist Christopher C. Child, science journalist and author Libby Copeland, and author and television host Bill Griffeth. Learn how DNA testing has changed family history research and how to interpret and cope with unexpected results.
November 18, at 6 p.m. (EDT). Participants can access recordings and materials from November 11 to February 28, 2021. Learn more and register.
Join our Fall Research "Stay-at-Home" Online Program Register Now
New Database: Boston MA: Provident Institution for Savings, 1817-1882 Search now
Author event: Tamara Payne on the life of Malcolm X Register Now
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
Last week's survey asked how the Covid pandemic has affected your family history research. 3,008 responses were received. The results are:
45%, I’ve spent more time on family history.
16%, I’ve spent less time on family history.
32%, I’ve spent more time organizing digital or paper files.
7%, I’ve spent less time organizing digital or paper files.
34%, I had to cancel at least one planned trip related to family history.
28%, I’m planning for at least one family history-related trip after the pandemic is over.
37%, I’ve taken part in at least one video presentation or conference related to family history.
26%, I have not taken part in any video presentations or conferences related to family history.
5%, I am not interested in video presentations or conferences related to family history.
14%, I have given away books, papers, or photographs related to family history to other family members or to institutions.
13%, I’ve been given books, papers, or photographs related to family history.
12%, I’ve discussed family history with others on video calls.
13%, My research was affected in a way not mentioned above.
27%, My pursuit of family history has not changed during the pandemic.
This week's question asks how many U.S. states or Canadian provinces have been associated with your family history from immigration to the present. Take the survey now!!
Want to share your thoughts on the survey with us? We are always happy to hear from our readers. Email us at weeklygenealogist@nehgs.org. Responses may be edited for clarity and length and featured in a future newsletter.
Readers Respond: Genealogy During the Pandemic by Lynn Betlock, Editor
Last week's survey asked about genealogy research during the pandemic. Thank you to everyone who replied. Below is a selection of reader responses.
Liz DuBois of Bremerton, Washington: With my local library closed due to the pandemic, I realized how often I’d visited to access Family History Library offerings. After a couple of frustrating months, it occurred to me that perhaps the library’s internet was still functioning. A quick check with the staff revealed that I could bring my laptop, park in the parking lot, and use their internet connection any time, day or night! Now I am a regular in their parking lot, happily accessing the films I need.
Susan McClen of Harwinton, Connecticut: It's been a “win some, lose some” time. On my dining room table I have a folder of information I am waiting to research once the town halls in Connecticut reopen. I have attended genealogy conferences online, so my research has continued. I was able to join two lineage groups, thanks to vital records on AmericanAncestors.org and Ancestry.com.
Terry Thomas of Guilford, Connecticut: My mother was born in Manhattan in 1918, during the last pandemic. She was abandoned as a baby and later adopted, but never learned the truth about her biological parents. I have carried on her research and learned that the New York Adoptee Rights Coalition was successful in getting Bill S3419 signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo in November 2019. This bill allows adoptees and their descendants to apply for and receive original birth certificates that had been sealed due to adoptions. I applied in January 2020 but am still waiting to receive my mother's certificate. The irony is that she was born during a pandemic and now, a little over 100 years later, this current Covid-19 pandemic is impeding my efforts to solve the mystery of her origins.
Candi K. Bubert of St Augustine, Florida: While sheltering in place, I decided to share my recent Mayflower discoveries with the youngest generations of my family. I made a list of my fifteen great- and great-great-nieces and nephews and then searched for an age-appropriate book about the Pilgrims for each one. I discovered a wonderful selection of books, including The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower about our ancestor John Howland and Goodnight Plymouth for the babies. I created a Mayflower family tree for each child, showing their own line to our five Mayflower ancestors. Last month I mailed boxes containing the books and trees across the country. To my delight, every parent and child was excited to learn of their connection to the Mayflower.
Karyl Hubbard of Omak, Washington: Since Covid sidelined my planned trip to Scotland to check on the Earls of Orkney, I looked toward Christmas and have been putting together a book of family stories and memories for my four adult children. I thought the book would be 20 or 30 pages, but it has turned into more than 100 pages of biographies, autobiographies, and odd memories—like my first pair of dress shoes at age five during World War II. To my delight, my husband has been contributing his own memories. I'm hoping the final result, illustrated with old family photos, will make a lasting contribution to our kids’ knowledge of their family history.
Online Class: Early Vermont Settlers
Learn about our Early Vermont Settlers to 1784 Study Project from Project Manager Scott Andrew Bartley in a live Zoom class sponsored by the Vermont Genealogy Library. His talk, "Update to Early Vermont Settlers Project & Things Learned Along the Way," can be viewed on Saturday, October 24, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. $10. Learn more and register.
A recent archeological dig in Cambridge, Maryland, offers intriguing glimpses of the culinary skills and traditions that may have sustained people escaping slavery.
Israel Eisenberg, 79, and Ruth Brandspiegel, 84, met as children in a displaced persons camp in Hallein, Austria, after World War II. They were recently reunited thanks to Eisenberg’s name being mentioned during a Yom Kippur service on Zoom.
After being unexpectedly contacted by an art historian from a museum in Oldenburg, Germany, Martin Goldsmith received a 16th-century kettle that belonged to Goldsmith’s grandparents before they died in the Holocaust.
Author Event: Nathaniel Philbrick
Award-winning author Nathaniel Philbrick will speak with Ryan J. Woods, COO and EVP of American Ancestors and NEHGS, about his celebrated work Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War.
Presented by the Boston Public Library in partnership with American Ancestors and NEHGS, the State Library of Massachusetts, and GBH Forum Network. This talk is part of the Boston Public Library’s Baxter Lecture series “promoting commemorative and public understanding of the history of the settlement of and immigration to New England.”
American Ancestors by New England Historic Genealogical Society
To advance the study of family history in America and beyond, NEHGS educates, inspires, and connects people through our scholarship, collections, and expertise.
