America

  • Free Scanning Photos – FamilySearch

    Jun 23

    You have been putting off scanning those treasured family photos and documents. Now FamilySearch.org has made it very easy for everyone to achieve this very needed preservation.   At the over 2,800 Family History Centers across North America, FamilySearch has placed the new Lexmark MFPS scanners. They are very simple to operate and now make it ve...

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  • Oral Family History

    Jun 21

    The authorities at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D. C. had stated that “it only takes three generations to lose a piece of oral family history.” Our ancestors, especially because they many times did not read or write, had only oral history as a method to hand down family events, names and stories. So it was co...

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  • Family Reunion Ideas

    Jun 1

    Summer Time ! This is when many families attend family reunions. It is not too late to organize and plan one for this summer. Beyond the actual contacting the relatives and setting a location, you will want to do something memorable. Providing some type of keepsake for each family is the best method. Some ideas can be done ahead of time and will ...

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  • Slang Words Used during the American Civil War

    May 29

    Words and phrases have changed over the decades. The way someone expressed themselves could have been acceptable and understood a hundred years ago and not understood today. People change and so does the language. Online is a listing "Civil War Slang" with meanings of some words and phrases, compiled by G. M. Atwater, that date back to the mid-180...

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  • State Resources at Allen County Library

    May 27

    The Allen County Public Library is in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It has a wonderful genealogical department, one of the best in the country. The collection of databases of information covers just about every state and region of the country. Some of the databases can only be viewed at the Allen County Public Library. However, many are available online (t...

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  • Memorial Day

    May 26

    This Monday, May 29th is the official holiday titled 'Memorial Day' with banks, schools, and the post office closed. But it is not the true original Memorial Day of Saturday, May 30th. It is a Federal holiday to take time to remember the military personnel (men and women) who died in the service of the nation. Its beginnings are after the American...

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  • OCR – Scan to Text

    May 25

    It can be very useful to scan not just photos but some of the documents handed down by the family, placing them into digital format. If they are handwritten papers then scan as if it was a photo to preserve it. Any transcribing would be by reading it and then typing it out into a document. If the document is already in a typed mode, you can scan i...

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  • NY World’s Fair

    May 23

    This year, 2014, marks the 50th anniversary of the New York World's Fair which was held on the grounds in Flushing Meadows, Queens, N.Y., beginning April 19, 1964. Greeting all the visitors 50 years ago was the Unisphere, surrounded by water fountains. This stainless steel globe was 120 feet wide, and weighed 900,000 pounds, including its base. Be...

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  • Museum of the Confederacy

    May 21

    There is a huge amount of links and web sites devoted to the soldiers of the US Federal Union during the American Civil War (1861-1865); especially with the 150th anniversary. Locating information and particularly photos of the Confederacy can be harder. Online is a site titled: The Museum of the Confederacy, with a variety of collections and arch...

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  • The Eleven Nation-States of America

    May 6

    How many states are there in the United States of America? Of course, we all know there are fifty. That is the reason why there are 50 stars on the flag. However, there is another way to look at things. Colin Woodard, a reporter at the Portland Press Herald, says that North America can be broken down into eleven separate nation-states. According...

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