Erie Canal Locks Upstate New York.

Oct 14: Banquet with keynote speaker Barry J. Ewell, “Ah Ha! I’m a Genealogist and Lovin’ It.”  He is a writer and researcher with extensive genealogical experience in Internet and field research, digital and software resources and mentoring genealogists.  He lives in Utah and is the founder of MyGenShare.com.

R1B in Germany

Author:WITLOX

Well I took the plunge and started a DNA Family Group at Family Tree DNA, and I welcome all of you HILLENBRANDs out there to join us.

Last weekend I read on DNAkits.org that FTDNA is having a summer SALE and it is on until the end of the week, so I clicked on an order button on the DNA Testing Kits website and placed my order for a 67 marker Y-DNA test.

Then as no one had yet started a group with my surname I volunteered to become the administrator of the new group.

Missing Airmen Report Footnote.com

As a serious genealogist there is no doubt that you have earned your position at the research table in many libraries and historical societies in many of your ancestral regions.

You most likely also have subscribed to various online services such as ancestry.com, genealogybank.com and various subscription genealogical societies.

I have written about footnote.com on this blog several times in the past but now I want to call your attention to the massive amount of new information that is available to you on footnote. You will also note that many of the groups of records that are online at footnote also allow you to interact with the original records by submitting your own notations and additional documents, photos and research notes.

Have had a rather exciting find for 2011. My father’s family of HILLENBRANDs in Syracuse started with grandfather Jacob HILLENBRAND coming from Markelsheim, Wuerttemburg in 1885. I have mentioned this before on this blog, and his photo can be seen on my main website at www.UNYG.com.

Well last month I received an email from my new best friend, a genealogist that actually lives in Markelsheim and she offered to help! Wow, you should all be so lucky.

Yesterday’s post about the Broome County Library Vital Records Index caught the eye of Phyllis Rogan, a reference librarian at Steele and she wrote to say that they have the Vital Records Index also.

So then she sent me an announcement about some happenings at Steele and I am very happy to pass this information on to our readers.

It is with great pleasure that the Genealogy Department of Steele Memorial Library announces the acquisition of local early Catholic Church Records on microfilm. Beginning in 1848 to1910, most film consists of Chemung County Churches but also includes churches in Addison, Waverly, Trumansburg, and Watkins Glen. The records are available for immediate use and can be found on the second floor of Steele Library in the microfilm department.  This provides researchers with early records previously unavailable.

Binghamton in Broome County, NY now has the NYS Vital Records Microfiche Index. For those of you that reside in the Southern Tier of the state, you no longer have to drive to Albany, Syracuse, Rochester or New York City (the nearest locations that have the index), but just go to the Broome County Public Library in Binghamton to have access to the fiche set yourself.

The New York State Library is going to be open on Saturdays, starting this coming October 16th.  This story sounded too good to be true, but it has been verified.

For those of you that work during the week this is a golden opportunity to be able to take advantage of the unique collections and fingertip access to some of the best published and non-published resources for New York State ancestors.

The Bombay Historical Society announces the formation of the Bombay Genealogical Society.  Due to the recent surge in genealogy research, Becky Latulipe, president of the historical society, gave the explanation that the genealogical society would be able to serve the public, under the umbrella of the historical society.

The Bombay Genealogical Society will have their own elected officers.  Latulipe said, “We want people to be aware of the pioneer families and community members that have lived here, but it will take some time and research.”

The Troy Irish Genealogical Society (TIGS) is charging forward with their massive indexing project of all things Troy.  Your ancestors certainly do not have to have been Irish to be included in these collections.  TIGS members are working hard constantly making things easier to find the obscure clue that you might need to locate your ancestor that is hiding behind that brick wall.

I particularly like the note at the bottom about one of my favorite Vice Presidents.  Well most interesting anyway.

This has been posted on several NYS mail lists and I know that Bill has asked me before to make announcements for them.

In 1945 General George S. Patton was on leave to visit family in California and he presented the Huntington Library with a set of documents that might have been the most important set of documents ever signed by the most evil man in the world, Adolph Hitler.

These documents were known as the Nuremberg Laws and were the actual documents that stripped all Jewish people of their rights as German citizens and opened the door for Hitler’s Holocaust atrocities.

If you have ever wonderd if your signing of online petitions has any impact, we suggest that it does.

Last September we told you that the State of Michigan was in a budget crisis and was planning on closing the state library.  We told you how to Save the Library of Michigan.

Well todays news is reported in the Lansing State Journal that the library is not only alive and well, but that the legislators have also voted to keep all of the non-Michigan books and research media available to genealogists as well.

Those of you Upstate New York Genealogy researchers that are working on Rochester, New York , Monroe County and the western part of New York State in general, are very fortunate.

The Monroe County Library System has been hard at work making much of their large genealogy / local history collection available online.  A discussion on one of the recent message boards caught my eye and decided we better review this site again.  See our previous posts about the Rochester Library.

While feeling quite patriotic for the holidays I decided to revisit one of my Revolutionary War patriot ancestors, Private Aaron HULET (1755-1835) who was a pensioner and is buried in Shaftsbury, Bennington County Vermont.

His second wife, my ancestor, was Cynthia (HOPKINS) HULET (1775-1860) and I have worked on them both for many years. Cynthia had at least two sisters, Bethia (HOPKINS) REYNOLDS and (presumed) ‘Sylvia’ (HOPKINS) PARKER, that I had previously noted were from an unknown place when they both signed an affidavit attesting to their sister Cynthia’s having been the widow of Aaron HULET.

234 years ago today, the Continental Congress voted to approve the break with British Control. Then on the 4th of July the 56 Signers and the founders of this great country subjected their property, their liberty and even their life to the possibility of being taken away, once they signed the Declaration of Independence.

Do you ever think of how totally brave of an act that was? Would you have been able to do it?

Have you ever wondered what the Estate valuations meant in the various census returns where they were reported?

The 1850 federal census asked the value of real estate.
1860 census value of real estate and value of personal estate.
1870 census asked value of real estate and personal property.

You could actually use these numbers to put your family in economic perspective within the community in which they lived.  All you would have to do is enter the town or area into a database and then sort by the value to find out where your ancestors stood in the pecking order of their neighbors.

The Erie Canal played so many important parts in opening up America that it is hard to count them all.

First of all, the Nay-Sayers said that it could not be done.  Fortunately there were strong proponents that were able to win out in the rough and ready political climate of the early years of New York State and we have all benefited greatly.

The Erie Canal took the path of least resistance right across the central part of New York State and through a series of so called feeder canals or natural watershed, and using a highly engineered system of locks to raise or lower the boats this largest canal in the U.S was able to connect Albany to Buffalo.

Been doing a little housekeeping with the blog here the past couple of days and decided to write this “How To” blog post about how to get the most out of the UNYG Blog.

Some of you know that I have been doing genealogy research for a great many years, like since the 1960′s.  When the internet came along it was a natural way to share things that I discovered with others and in one way or other I have been publishing on the internet before there was a Wild Wild Web (www).

Part Time Genealogy Researchers – North Syracuse, NY

Genealogy Researchers needed to conduct online family genealogy research. Qualified candidates must be proficient in MS Office and experience researching family genealogy online. Ideally looking for someone with history degree/background or extensive researching experience specific to genealogy. Experience in conducting phone surveys a plus. Part time, long term temporary position. $8.00 per hour. This is NOT a telecommuting position.

To apply for this opportunity, please email your resumé to jobs@cpsprofessionals.com

To readers of the UNYG blog, I know these people and this project and you will have a very exciting time if you are selected for this job.

Thursday June 17 through Saturday June 19, 2010.

Holiday Inn Conference Center at Fishkill, New York

This is the 300th year anniversary 1710 – 2010 of the arrival of the group of some 3,000 people that have been collectively called Palatines that had left the war torn and poor crops area of what is now Germany dubbed the Palatinate.

This band of families had first been accepted in to England by the young Queen Anne and then sent to America with the prospect of paying their passage by service the Royal Navy in collecting pitch and spars.  The Palatines were abandoned by England and they were not paid their subsistence money so had to fend for themselves.

A fine museum and research center concerning New York State residents who have served from the American Revolution through Iraq and Afghanistan.

The mission of the museum and research center is to preserve, interpret and disseminate the story, history and records of New York State’s military forces and veterans. The collection is divided into the museum and the library/archives holdings

From the website; The mission of the museum and research center is to preserve, interpret and disseminate the story, history and records of New York State’s military forces and veterans. The collection is divided into the museum and the library/archives holdings.

Many of you know about MyHeritage.com, one of the foremost aggregators of genealogy databases.  This free collection encourages you to join the fun and you may input as much of your own family information as you like.

There are over 579 million profiles of individuals, 14 million family trees and 86 million photos.  Data entry is as simple as filling out the online data form or you may submit your complete GEDCOM if preferred.

Our friend Gary Jones, an employee of the Onondaga County Public Library in Syracuse, NY has sent in some items of interest to our Upstate New York Genealogy blog.

“What a great conference and the Family History Library was unbelievable.   It will be a while for me to process what I learned but will definitely email you some tidbits.

I did attend the Ancestry.com reception where the Senior VP of Product Development Eric Shoup and CEO Tim Sullivan announced a revamped search engine that will offer new and more precise search options for the advanced user while maintaining a simpler search option for the novice.

More information concerning the closing of the National Archive (NARA) Northeast Region New York Branch is received from correspondent, Roger D. Joslyn, FASG.

Those of you that have had the pleasure of using the excellent facility and holdings of the New York City branch on Varick Street will want to know about the changes being made.

It appears as though the downsizing will affect the collections as they move the facility over to the Customs House in lower Manhattan.

To many of our long time readers and also to our newest friends we want you to be aware of few things that you might find as being a little different on this website and blog.

We have been publishing totally free information about Upstate New York Genealogy on the internet since the 1980′s and will continue to do so.

Our main website at www.UNYG.com does not change much as it is structured in categories that remain relatively static but that do contain just an enormous amount of free data for you to use.

To readers of the Upstate New York Genealogy website and blog we want you to know about the Troy Irish Genealogy Society (TIGS).

This very active group was founded by some of the Irish descendants from Troy, New York and the surrounding area. If you have ancestors who lived in Troy or the immediate surrounding area at one point in time, you are cordially invited to join the Troy Irish Genealogy Society.  This Troy Irish group is dedicated to making available on-line searchable records of Irish ”AND” non-Irish names to genealogy researchers.