The following is a press release written by the Augusta (Georgia) Genealogical Society:

When:  Saturday, April 27, 2024 Time:  11:00 am - 12:00 pm  EST 

Where:  Online 

Price:   FREE to AGS members or $10 for nonmembers

Limited seating to view the virtual presentation will be offered at Adamson
Library. To reserve a seat, please call (706) 722-4073

Click here to register,  Augusta Genealogical Society

Limited seating to view the virtual presentation will be offered at Adamson
Library. To reserve a seat, please call (706) 722-4073

Click here to register,  Augusta Genealogical Society

Here is an article that is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, it is a topic that is very popular these days.

A new website launched by the New York State Mesonet at the University at Albany will offer real-time access to weather data statewide around the total solar eclipse on April 8.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, completely blocking the sun’s face. In total, 55 NYS Mesonet sites will experience totality during the eclipse, and every site will be above 90 percent at the peak of the eclipse crossing the region. 

As the eclipse traverses New York, the Mesonet will be tracking weather data from each of its network sites, including environmental variables such as wind speed, solar radiation, temperature and relative humidity. 

The Mesonet eclipse website, which is now available to the public, offers live weather information and camera images from each of its 126 standard sites, with updates every five minutes, along with additional data from its specialized networks.

The entire Mesonet network will track weather data around the total eclipse in real time, including 55 sites in the path of totality.

“This new website will offer the first interactive Mesonet tool that allows people to see a full day of data from all 126 stations all at once,” said Nathan Bain, senior software engineer at the NYS Mesonet. “When people interact with the dashboard, they will see Mesonet stations of interest highlighted across the page, starting and ending times of the eclipse for each station, and photos taken every five minutes. As the eclipse traverses the state, markers on the graphs will indicate when the eclipse is starting and ending, allowing people to easily see how the eclipse impacts the weather.”

You can read more in an article by Mike Nolan published in the University of Albany web site at: bit.ly/3VHXQbI

Nancy Battick has written an interesting article in her Family Discoverer column in the Piscataquis Observer newspaper's web site:

"Let’s continue talking about the uses of AI — artificial intelligence — in genealogy. 

"AI is being used to create pedigree charts, write family histories, and translate documents. When you “chat” with an assistant on a genealogical website you are probably chatting with AI. Reaching a human to ask a question is going to be more difficult in the future. 

"AI chat programs are out there and can help genealogists find material, edit photos and add material to files. There are several such programs, and if you want to explore them, you can. I saw demonstrations and wasn’t impressed, but I can see where a tech maven would be thrilled."

She goes on to offer lots of “hints and kinks” for using AI in genealogy searches. You can read the full article at: https://observer-me.com/2024/04/02/opinion/ai-in-genealogy/

US immigration announces 'third gender option' on citizenship form.

As of Monday, immigrants can now select a third gender option, or "X," when applying for naturalization.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a news alert that revealed that it had revised Form N-400, the Application for Naturalization, to provide "Another Gender Identity," the first USCIS form to do so.

"Historically, USCIS forms and associated documents have only offered two gender options: ‘Male (M)’ and ‘Female (F).’ This has created significant barriers for requestors who do not identify with either of those options. Limiting benefit requestors to two gender options also creates administrative challenges for USCIS when we receive birth certificates or other official government-issued documents with a gender other than M or F," the statement read.

You can read further details in an article by Lindsay Kornick in the Fox News web site at: https://bit.ly/4ahXWvi.

 

In the past few weeks, I received several email messages from readers of this newsletter expressing frustration with not being able to find some articles listed in my weekly email messages. Apparently, these folks did not know how to use the numbers at: https://eogn.com/page-18080.

Thousands of articles are still available in the eogn.com web site.

I answered frustrated readers in email but also decided to post the same instructions here for everyone to see. 

Actually, there are two different ways of finding older articles (perhaps 4 or 5 days old up to 4 years old.)

Method 1:

This works best to find articles that are only a few days old:

Go to https://eogn.com/page-18080.

Scroll down the page for a bit and look for the numbers:

Number 1 is the default, that shows the latest articles

Clicking on number 2 will display the older articles (from a few days ago).

Clicking on number 3 will display even older articles (from a few days or maybe a week ago).

Even older articles may be found by clicking on even higher numbers.

Method 2:

To find still older articles (up to 4 years old) use the search box that is shown on most of the pages in this web site:

(It works in a similar manner to Google and other search engines: enter a word or a phrase and press ENTER. You will then see a list of all articles that contain that word or phrase.) Click on the article title of your choice.

That’s it!

A hundred years ago, thousands of Black residents visited Washington Street for something modern Columbians take for granted — getting a photo taken. There, they found the studio of Richard Samuel Roberts, whose side-job portraits captured a slice of Black Columbia in the 1920s and ’30s, posed in front of painted backdrops and wearing everything from wedding dresses to work uniforms and sailor costumes.

You can find the full article at: http://bit.ly/3TODfjI.

A group of young people with noble roots, led by art historian Villő Szekeres-Ugron, embarked on an ambitious project: the Hungarian Noble Photographic Archive (MaNeFo), reports kronikaonline.ro. This initiative aimed to preserve and digitize photographic material related to the Hungarian nobility.

The inspiration for the project stemmed from a digitization competition, highlighting the importance of safeguarding cultural heritage. Collaborating with organizations such as the Castellum Foundation and the Association of Hungarian Historical Families, Villő Szekeres-Ugron spearheaded the endeavor. Funding from the National Cultural Fund’s College of Photography and generous contributions from private donors facilitated the project’s initiation.

The core focus of the project lay in digitization efforts, overseen by Ms. Szekeres-Ugron and an advisory board. Their goal was to ensure accessibility of the digitized material to researchers and historians. 

You can read more at: http://bit.ly/43EZFbm.

About 5,500 Alaskans between 1904 and the 1960s were committed to a hospital in Portland, Oregon, after being deemed by a jury “really and truly insane,” a criminal offense.

There were no facilities to treat those with mental illness or developmental disabilities in what was then the Alaska territory, so they were sent — often by dog sled, sleigh or stagecoach — to a waiting ship in Valdez. The 2,500-mile (4,000 km) journey ended at Morningside Hospital.

Many never left, and their families never learned their fate.

They are known as the Lost Alaskans.

For more than 15 years, volunteers in Fairbanks and in Portland have been working to identify the people who were committed to the hospital. Many were buried in Portland cemeteries, some in unmarked pauper graves. A few, like McCormick, have been returned to Alaska for proper burials.

You can read more at: bit.ly/3vwtuOV

A new database is available : www.lostalaskans.com. A prior blog: www.morningsidehospital.com. Alaska Natives who died at Morningside: https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/552288. Other patients who died at Morningside: https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/152302.

Many, or perhaps most, U.S. genealogists are unaware of a program that helps the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) make contributions to the National Archives Catalog. However, YOU can help in this all-volunteer program to help unlock history.

The Citizen Archivist program invites citizen to transcribe historical documents, tag archival photographs, or share comments with other community members. You are invited to join in! Every contribution you make helps unlock history.

You can learn more and even sign up in the Citizen Archivist Dashboard at: https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist.

Many DNA experts claim the fact is that anyone with blue eyes is that you all, apparently, share an ancestor. For those wondering how this is possible, they will first need to look at a study that found it can all be traced back to one person.

Healthline estimates that between 8 and 10 percent of the world's population have blue eyes. And its rarity now makes sense, as scientists revealed that the genetic mutation came from a singular human who lived between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Researchers have tried to discover what caused this change by studying the OCA2 gene, which determines the level of brown pigment in the human eye, for many years.

You can read a rather detailed explanation of all this in an article by Anish Vij published in the ladbible.com web site at: bit.ly/3xiNncH.