Collecting random bits of genealogy news.
News of Historical Interest
Ed Grisamore writes about a Suitcase [that] ‘tells an amazing story’ in the Macon Telegraph (Georgia). The suitcase was “discovered” by one Jennifer O’Kelley, and when I say “discovered”, I really mean she finally got around to opening it after it had been passed down through seven generations of her husband’s family and then ended up in the top of her closet (by way of the basement). What she found was pretty amazing alright.
In the Picayune Item (Picayune MS)/Associated Press, there is an article about an archaelogist with a 30 year old dream – finding the Jamestown colony, which many believed had been washed away into the James River. Luckily he stayed at it and ignored those who believed it was gone.
The Norman Transcript has an article by Darlene Shawn, Power at the genealogist’s fingertip, about the power of the internet and how it can help genealogists find things they might never have known existed – such as old family photos.
There’s an article in The Mercury News (the Bay Area – California) by Lisa M. Krieger about people working to track down the origins of house cats using the same DNA techniques that genealogists are starting to use in tracing their own human ancestors.
There is an interesting project (if you’re into math), The Mathematics Genealogy Project, that is being run by the Department of Mathematics, North Dakota State University. This is not a “traditional” genealogy project, in the sense of doing family history research, rather it’s oriented towards mapping out mathemeticians and the programs they are in, and the people that influenced them.