Saturday, May 05, 2007

quality

Genealogy.com: Research Tip 12: Evaluating Written and Oral Evidence

Before examining the verification process, it is essential to understand the difference between primary and secondary sources.

A primary record or source is one created by an eyewitness of an event. Whether the writer records the event as it occurs or describes it at a later time does not change the fact that a record created by an eyewitness at any time is a primary source.

However, the period of time between the event and the recording of the event could dramatically affect the source's accuracy.

Friday, May 04, 2007

I benefited from military hospitals

Petition to: Bring back dedicated military hospitals and provide adequate facilities (non NHS) for members of the Armed Forces who are injured or disabled in the course of their duties.:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Bring back dedicated military hospitals and provide adequate facilities (non NHS) for members of the Armed Forces who are injured or disabled in the course of their duties. More details

Submitted by Joseph O'Gorman – Deadline to sign up by: 06 August 2007 – Signatures: 3,496"

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Register office meltdown in England and Wales

Register office meltdown-Comment-Join the Debate-Letters to the Editor-TimesOnline: "Sir, The registration of births and deaths in England and Wales was changed on March 26, with the introduction of registration online and the doing away with the old handwritten registers."
___________
Chaos as register offices are told to abandon £6m computer system-News-Politics-TimesOnline

Hundreds of register offices across the country have been ordered to abandon a new online system for recording births, deaths and marriages in the latest IT fiasco to hit the government.

The Times has learnt that the huge £6 million IT project has met with “complete system failure” and online registration has been suspended in half the 3,000 offices.

Registrars have been told that a long-term solution will take “many months” and in the meantime those affected should revert to the old computer system, even though that means none of the hundreds of births, deaths and marriages that occur each day will be centrally recorded.

Registrars have complained bitterly about the problems caused by the new system, which at times has forced them them to ask grieving family members to give details of their loved ones twice because the data has been lost.

In many areas, multiple death certificates cannot be issued because of the problems. Multiple certificates are vital for transferring assets and pensions as companies do not accept photocopies as proof of death.

The hardware and software, developed by Siemens and US group ManTech respectively, was tested extensively before being introduced at register offices late last year.

However, when the last tranches of offices was added in March, the new system almost ground to a halt. Officers said that its performance was so slow that it was unusable.

When IT staff came to try and sort it out, they found it could not reliably save data.

Details of the fiasco are contained in a letter to today’s Times. The author, a registrar in the home counties, said that since it was known in advance exactly how many staff would be using the system every day, volume testing had clearly been inadequate.

Concerns raised by staff about the reliability of the new system were dismissed, the registrar said

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

my photographs on Flickr

hugh1936uk's photosets on Flickr
in case you guys have not noticed I am using this new image server for my photo blogs - enjoy the slide shows

Thomas Nast

Thomas Nast "the cartoonist was born in a Prussian Army barracks in Landau, Bavaria on September 27, 1840. His father, also named Thomas, was a trombonist in the 9th Bavarian Regimental band. His mother was Appolinia Abriss.

Thomas Nast, the father, decided that life in Prussia was repressive. In 1846, he sent his wife, his son Thomas, and his daughter to New York City. In 1850, the father was able to join them after his enlistment ended. He became a member of the New York City Philharmonic Society.

Young Thomas Nast was a very poor student except in the area of art. His teacher recommended that he be sent to an art school. In 1854, he began studying drawing with Alfred Fredericks and Theodore Kaufmann at the National Academy of Design.
thomas nast - Google Image Search



Bits of Blue and Gray:

"We're always on the lookout for letters or anything else Civil War related to share here on the Bits of Blue and Gray website, so if you have something you would like to share, or you know someone who does, please contact me. "

Voice of Utah - Uncharitable doings at the LDS Family History Library

Voice of Utah - Uncharitable doings at the LDS Family History Library: "In this corner: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, operator of the largest genealogy library in the world.

And in this corner: The Generations Network, Inc., operator of the largest genealogy website in the world, Ancestry.com.

Caught in the middle: 800,000 genealogists in Utah and elsewhere who are getting the shaft.

A little background . . . " read the blog Uncharitable doings at the LDS Family History Library

Top Ten Genealogy Websites

of 2050 | The Genealogue: "10. Cyndi's Granddaughter's List

9. The Ancestry of President Mary-Kate Olsen

8. Find a Grave on K-PAX

7. The National Archives of Amerimexicanada

6. Iraq War Service Records, 2003-2038

5. The Bill Clinton Memorial DNA Registry

4. Baptismal Records of the Church of the FSM

3. MutantCloneGenealogy.com

2. Daughters of the American Sexual Revolution

1. Ancestry.gov"


from The Genealogue - Genealogy News You Can't Possibly Use

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Federation of Family History Societies in the UK

FFHS - Ezine - Introduction: "The Federation of Family History Societies has an Ezine (email magazine) which is disributed by email every two months. It contains brief news items about what is going on in the Federation and the world of British Genealogy in general and is intended to keep you up-to-date on all the important issues and events.



All member societies are sent a copy of the Ezine as a matter of course, but copies are also available for free to anyone who is interested."

1901 and 1911 Census Ireland

FFHS - Ezine - 1911 Census Update:

An agreement to digitalize the 1901 and 1911 census for Ireland was signed in December 2005 between the National Archives of Ireland and Library and Archives Canada. The project has been divided into sections, the first being County Dublin for 1911 which it is hoped will be available online by the end of 2007. It is hoped that the entire project will be completed over the next 3 years.

The digitization of the microfilms is nearly all completed, and work is ongoing to link the images to the appropriate geographic descriptions. In addition to the census research tool, the National Archives of Ireland is also creating a variety of essays with complimentary digitized photographs to better contextualize Dublin and Ireland as a whole in 1911 and 1901. There are 1209 reels of microfilm for 1901 and 3281 for 1911 - films of the actual householders returns. The backs of the householder returns were filmed for 1911 but not for 1901. The project is commencing with 1911 as the quality of the films is better in 19911 than 1901.

All material will be accessible free of charge via the National Archives of Ireland website: www.nationalarchives.ie ."

FamilySearch Indexing:

Preserving Our Heritage - Upcoming Projects

include
Glamorgan, Wales Parish Registers

Algemeen Rijksarchief en Rijksarchief in de Provincien

* Belgie/Belgique Overlijdens/Deces