• A Brave New Millennium
• Family Tree Detective
• American & European Family Forest Millennium Edition
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook
• Early Vital Records of Norfolk County, Massachusetts
• Heritage Books’ Online Library
• Genealogical Periodical Annual Index Now Available On-Line
• From the Mailbox
• Upcoming Events

A Brave New Millennium
This is the week in which we see how accurate the opportunists, scammers and doomsayers have been recently. Even a few days ago the newspapers at the local grocery store checkout stand were still predicting that airplanes would be falling out of the sky, that the global economy would be in meltdown, and that thousands would freeze to death because of widespread power outages, all caused by the Y2K bug.

I am writing these words on January 1, 2000. It is perhaps still a bit early to measure the full impact of the computer glitches, but I must admit that I haven’t heard of any airplanes falling out of the sky. The news services are reporting a "ho-hum" Y2K start as far as computers are concerned.

Over the next few days I am sure we will here of many inconveniences and glitches, but none approaching the hysteria that was being broadcast only a few months ago. I suspect that the folks who all wrote books predicting huge catastrophes are now in hiding. So much for modern-day "Chicken Little" wannabees…

Family Tree Detective
Genealogy.com, formerly known as Broderbund, has long been famous for their popular genealogy program called Family Tree Maker. The same company also produces Family Origins and Ultimate Family Tree. However, Genealogy.com has recently introduced still another genealogy program, called "Family Tree Detective" for Windows. This week I took the program for a test drive.

Family Tree Detective is advertised as "The Fun, Hi-Tech Way to Uncover Your Roots." I found it a bit strange when the same advertisement also said, "Family Tree Detective is designed for people who are curious about their family history but don't want to print family trees or store lots of information about their relatives." Just what is a genealogy program that doesn’t store information or print family trees?

When I opened the box, I found two CD-ROM disks, a registration card and a single sheet of advertising. There was no user’s manual at all. Installation was simple and even included automatic registration of the program by modem. Within two minutes I was looking at the main screen for Family Tree Detective.

The program starts with an invitation to enter your family tree. It asks for your name as well as the names of your parents and grandparents. Subsequent screens ask for dates and places of birth and death, if possible. After that information is entered, Family Tree Detective connects to the Internet and does an online search on Genealogy.com’s Web site, looking for matches. The generated report prioritizes the findings with a 5-star rating system so you can easily tell which links will provide the best information for you. A 5-star match is 95% likely to be an exact match of your family member.

The search did find my mother, my father and one grandmother, all of whom are deceased. While the program listed them only with four stars, they were the proper individuals. The matches were found in the Social Security Death Indexes. In addition, a number of other possible matches were displayed, but with only one star beside each one. In my case, none of the other matches looked likely. The sources displayed during my search included a Canadian genealogy index, a marriage index for Mississippi and Florida, along with Genealogy.com’s World Family Tree. I was able to copy the search results to the Windows Notepad and then transfer it to a word processor of my choice. I could also print the search results directly on my printer.

The Family Detective program advises you to run online searches every time you add information about several new people or any time you add a new surname.

The second CD-ROM in the box contains a free 2-month trial subscription to http://www.GenealogyLibrary.com. This online resource makes it easy to search online genealogy books and government records from your home computer. This CD also has a multimedia tutorial that shows you how quick and easy it is to begin your adventure into your family history.

The primary purpose of Family Tree Detective seems to be for genealogy newcomers who want to make online searches. The program does do this smoothly and efficiently. It also provides links to online sources for writing letters of inquiry (in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish), links to more than 71,000 genealogy sites provided by Helm's Genealogy Toolbox, genealogy message boards, and also direct links to online "How to get started in genealogy" guides that can provide a wealth of information. While the program is advertised for those who "don't want to print family trees", Family Tree Detective will indeed print a simple pedigree chart.

Family Tree Detective will appeal to the person who has not yet done any genealogy research. That person may still be in the "idle curiosity" stage, and this software tool may help them get started. If you have a friend who is thinking about starting genealogy research, you could recommend this program. However, if that friend already has done some online searching and has already looked at a reel or two of microfilm, he or she will want a more powerful solution.

Family Tree Detective Version 1.0 for Windows should operate properly on any modern Windows 95, 98 or NT system. It requires:

A 486 or faster (Pentium recommended)
A CD-ROM drive (2x or faster)
16 megabytes of RAM memory (32 MB RAM recommended)
70 megabytes of free hard disk space (40 MB free hard disk space after install)
VGA display running in at least 256 colors
14.4 or faster modem and an Internet Service Provider
Family Tree Detective sells for $39.99 (U.S. funds) plus shipping. Further details are available at: http://www.genealogy.com/soft_ftd.html

American & European Family Forest Millennium Edition
This week I had a chance to use a pre-release version of the new "American & European Family Forest Millennium Edition" CD-ROM disk for Windows. A "family forest" is a term coined by Millisecond Publishing Company. It refers to a lineage-linked databases of thousands of people showing their connections with each other and with the history they created.

Previous "family forest" products from Millisecond Publishing include a Presidential Family Forest CD-ROM showing all the U.S. presidents and their wives, with some ancestries going back a claimed 2000 years, linking many of the presidents to European royal families. This collection shows how many of the U.S. presidents were related to each other. Other "family forest" CD-ROM disks include The Founders and Patriots Family Forest, a web of family ties that includes many thousands of people who actually founded the United States and/or fought in the American Revolution, and the Delaware Family Forest, a database of tens of thousands of people from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Delaware.

Millisecond Publishing now has created the American & European Family Forest. This "forest" concentrates on royal families of Europe and many Americans who descend from those families. Quoting from the information on the CD-ROM:

The A&E Family Forest is the fifth CD-ROM title in a series of lineage-linked databases that digitally connect people with each other, and with the history they created, in a fun, educational, and exciting new format.

The A&E Family Forest digitally maps out and connects recorded knowledge about the family ties that lead to most of the people in America and

Europe, and makes the results available almost instantly. In addition to many of the people in the A&E Family Forest being connected to a thousand or more of their ancestors (ancestors are only parents of parents, etc., and not aunts, uncles, or cousins) over the span of twenty centuries, many are connected to six thousand or more cousins.

What does it mean to be a cousin (no matter how distant) of someone? Basically it means that somewhere back in time, maybe many centuries ago, there were two people who were ancestors of both you and your cousin. It also means that each and every ancestor of those two people, all the way back to wherever the beginning was, was also an ancestor of you and your cousin.

While the A&E Family Forest is very much about genealogy, it is primarily about U.S. history, and more than 1,500 years of Old World history leading up to the birth of the United States. It is a fun and very easy to use reference source that should be a valuable resource for every student of history, young or old.

We believe the "people-centered approach to history" of Family Forests makes history come to life in a most engaging manner, and hope you will have as much fun exploring the A&E Family Forest as we are having growing it.

The Family Forest CD-ROM disk uses Progeny Software’s "Family Explorer" software, which I have always liked. This software is very intuitive; a user’s manual isn’t needed. All the required software is included on the CD-ROM itself, and installation was quick and simple.

I had a lot of fun with this CD-ROM. It has many thousands of individuals listed. I found royal houses that I had never heard of, complete with thousands of individuals in each "house," showing their marriages to each other and to other royal houses. The Progeny Family explorer allows for the creation of pedigree charts and descendant charts that go for page after page. I found that I could "walk" up and down pedigree charts for 50 or more generations. The folks at Millisecond Publishing Company told me that it is possible to calculate and display a 5-mile high pedigree chart.

I spent some time looking at President John Quincy Adams’ claimed ancestry. It went back many, many generations. I found such individuals as King Hengist of Saxons and Kent, who lived back around 500 A.D. President Clinton’s ancestry, however, is only shown back to the mid-1600s.

Millisecond Publishing Company described one test they made: they created a 25-generation Ancestor View (without siblings, and with Cousin Smart de-selected) for Prince Andrew of Greece. It took about 35 minutes to calculate and format the chart on a 600-megahertz Pentium III system with 384 megabytes of RAM memory. According to the counters within Family Explorer, the resultant printout would fill in 975,750 boxes, and the space required to print it is 4 pages wide by 29,259 pages high. At 11 inches high per page, the height of this chart would reach from sea level to more than 6,500 feet above Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America. Although navigating through a chart this large is too slow to be practical now, it gives a good preview of what is coming as processing speed increases and memory becomes cheaper and more abundant. I elected to not try that printout myself.

While the above test was made on a rather high-powered Pentium III system with a lot of memory, you really don’t need that much power to use this CD-ROM. It should work well on any Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT system. There is no Macintosh version, however.

How accurate are the connections and information? The Family Forests contain information from many different sources. Not only are conflicts and inconsistencies between different sources recorded, but there are also frequent conflicts and inconsistencies within a single source. Millisecond Publishing Company simply presents the information "as is" and leaves the validation task up to the user to properly research which records are accurate.

This is a fun CD-ROM disk. Again, I was using a pre-release copy, but the final edition should be available any day now. The American & European Family Forest Millennium Edition CD-ROM disk retails for $49.95 (U.S. funds) plus shipping charges. However, Millisecond Publishing is offering a 20% discount for any orders placed before January 30. In addition, they will throw in free shipping and handling. Therefore, any orders placed now will only cost $39.20.

Details were not yet available online when I was writing this article, but I suspect they will soon be available at: http://www.familyforest.com

Internet Medieval Sourcebook
The Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies has a great resource available online: the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. The online site is divided into three main sections:

Selected Sources - This is an index of selected and excerpted texts for teaching purposes. Since it had grown too large for many users to manage, as of October 10 1998, it has been extensively reorganized. For teachers who wish to refer students to the Sourcebook, this page is the best starting point.

Full Text Sources - Full texts of medieval sources arranged according to type.

Saints' Lives - Devoted to Ancient, Medieval and Byzantine hagiographical sources.

The Full Text Sources include Church Councils, writings of the church fathers, history of Byzantium, Islam and Christian religions and a lot more.

If you have an interest in this sort of history, look at:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html

Early Vital Records of Norfolk County, Massachusetts
This week I had a chance to use a new CD-ROM disk produced by Search & Research Publishing Corporation. "Early Vital Records of Norfolk County, Massachusetts" is another in their series of early vital records for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Like the earlier CD-ROM disks from Search & Research, this one operates both on Macintosh and Windows. The CD-ROM "engine" software is Folio Views, an excellent choice. Folio Views is used on a number of CD-ROM disks produced by other companies as well. All software required is included on the CD-ROM disk itself; you do not need to purchase any other programs. I already had the latest version of Folio Views installed on my hard drive, so I didn’t have to do an installation. However, anyone using the software for the first time can install the software in Windows or on a Macintosh in a minute or two.

The "Early Vital Records of Norfolk County, Massachusetts" contains records for the following towns:

Avon
Bellingham
Braintree
Brookline
Canton
Cohasset
Dedham
Dover
Foxborough
Franklin
Holbrook*
Medfield
Medway
Millis*
Milton
Needham
Norfolk*
Norwood*
Plainville*
Quincy*
Randolph
Sharon
Stoughton
Walpole
Wellesley*
Westwood*
Weymouth
Wrentham

The towns listed with asterisks were founded in later years, so early records will be found in the parent towns.

The information on the CD-ROM consists of scanned images from the Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 "Official Series." This is supplemented by an every-name index. You can search for names of locations in the index and click on the reference, and you are immediately looking at the original page from the book. The information available typically includes individuals’ names, dates, and places listed for births, marriages, deaths and some burials.

I found the software to be very easy to use. I did a search on my own last name and found one reference, listed as being on page 253. I clicked on the number "253," and a second or two later I was looking at page 253 from the book "Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850" for Norfolk County. Indeed, there was the listing for the marriage of Miss Jane Eastman of Stoughton to Mr. Enoch Dickerman of Canton. My searches were quite simple as I was only looking for a few names. However, the Folio Views software will support rather complex Boolean searches. For instance, you can build searches specifying combinations of OR, AND, NOT or XOR (Exclusive OR). However, these Boolean searches are limited to the indexes, not to the pages of data. The actual data pages are scanned images and therefore are not directly searchable. Only the index may be searched. Once an entry is found in the index, the appropriate scanned image of the original book is displayed after one more mouse click.

I was able to print any page from this CD-ROM on my own printer. The output looks a lot better than the typical photocopies of the same pages that I have made in years past. However, I was unable to copy any of the information to the Windows clipboard. Therefore, I couldn’t paste the original image into another document.

The Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 "Official Series" has long been a standard research tool for anyone tracing Massachusetts ancestry. While these volumes have been available in print for many years, they are quite expensive. Search & ReSearch Publishing has transferred these volumes to CD-ROM with the result being much more cost-effective for the private researcher. The "Early Vital Records of Norfolk County, Massachusetts" sells for $59.95 (U.S. funds). For more information, look at: http://www.SearchReSearchPub.com

Heritage Books’ Online Library
Heritage Books has opened an "online library" modeled upon a traditional library. A subscription is required to access the library, although a free sample is available. Here is the announcement from Heritage Books:

A new on-line library of books of interest to history and genealogy researchers has just been opened by Heritage Books, Inc.

The new site is patterned after a traditional library, and consists of a card file and a collection of books. The card file has a descriptive card for each volume in the collection and can be searched for surnames, localities, or topics of interest using a boolean search engine. Each card includes a call number which can be used to call up the titles of interest from the stacks. Anyone with a web browser can freely search the card file; viewing of the books is limited to subscribers who pay a small annual fee.

The books in the collection are presented as graphic images, and look and function like real books, except that they have electronic bookmarks which make it easy to jump into them at key points. The user sees the books just at they were originally created, and uses the human-generated indexes associated with them. This means that the user is free to browse through both the book and the index, and such browsing will frequently turn up information which would never be found otherwise.

Everyone is invited to try out the new facility at:
http://www.heritagebooks.com/library

Genealogical Periodical Annual Index Now Available On-Line
Heritage Books also released a second announcement this week:

Each year a vast quantity of valuable genealogical data is published in genealogical periodicals and in books. For the past thirty-five years Genealogical Periodical Annual Index (GPAI) has been an essential key to unlocking this vast storehouse of information. Each volume of GPAI provides about 15,000 name, location, or topical index citations to the substantive articles in about 350 of the leading English-language genealogical periodicals. In addition, it indexes all book reviews, so that a search in GPAI will uncover not only important periodical articles, but also material published in book form as well. Thus, GPAI is an essential tool for any genealogical literature search, and a tool that serious genealogists need to use repeatedly - having it readily available on-line should prove very useful.

The Genealogical Periodical Annual Index is available at:
http://www.heritagebooks.com/library

From the Mailbox
Last week’s article on the "Top Ten Genealogical Web Sites" sparked a lot of interest and e-mails. Author Cole Goodwin sent along the following updates:

The correct URL for Medical Genealogy is as follows: Disease Chart - http://www.geocities.com/Heartland
/Valley/1030/diseasecharttable.htm

The correct URL for Military History would be as follows: U.S. Army Military History Institute - http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/

At the time I wrote the article, and again, recently, Ancestry.com was allowing free access of the military databases. Should you have access to Ancestry.com (it is a premium service), or if you should be taking advantage of their free access offer through January 4, 2000, I would highly recommend their holdings, too.

Last week I wrote "Here's a question you might ponder: If you could enter a time machine and go back 100 years, how would you explain all this to one of your ancestors that you met on the morning of January 1, 1900? I suspect that your ancestor would think you were crazy as you described all the tools available to you today." Jim Slade sent along a message saying,

The NGS/CIG Luncheon in Providence will do just that!

Leslie Smith Collier is going to talk with her dear departed Great Aunt Annabelle and explain to her about the new technology available today for genealogy. She will be in a period costume and should make an entertaining skit.

The luncheon is F-156 noon Friday - See description of her talk on p9 of the program insert [of the NGS Conference].

If I know Leslie, this will be great presentation.

Upcoming Events
The Upcoming Events section of the newsletter is published once per month. Each event will be listed very briefly: title, date(s), location, and sponsoring organization, all followed by either an e-mail address or a Web page that you can use to find more information. Since detailed information is available via e-mail or the Web, I will not list the details in this newsletter. If you do contact any of these organizations, please tell them where you heard about the event.

Here are the listings, arranged by date. An asterisk indicates a new listing that has been added since the last time this list was published:

The Arizona Genealogy Computer Interest Group (AGCIG) meeting on "Web Publishing" will be held on January 8, 2000. For information, contact jcrogers@home.com

The New Brunswick Genealogical Society, South Eastern Branch’s Jan. 8, 2000 Lecture Series will include "Tips on Reading Old Handwriting" by Howard Dixon and "What's In a Name" by Allaine Beels. The meeting will be in Moncton, New Brunswick. Details are available from: rgmess@nbnet.nb.ca

*The Rebecca Winters Genealogical Society in Scottsbluff, NE will be holding a day-long seminar with Arlene Eakle on January 11, 2000. For information, contact: mheinz@hannibal.wncc.cc.ne.us

The West Valley Genealogical Society of Arizona (formerly the Sun Cities Genealogical Society) is sponsoring their annual seminar on January 14 through 16. Topics will be British Isles and Colonial U.S. Research. Linda Jonas, President of the British Isles Family History Society – USA will be the main speaker. For further information, contact pruemeader@aol.com

The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy 2000 will be held 17-21 January 2000 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Eight courses will be held this year. A unique feature of the Institute is its close proximity to the Family History Library. More information and a registration form are available at: http://www.infouga.org/institut.htm.

*A Research Day will be sponsored by the New Brunswick Genealogical Society, South Eastern Branch in Moncton, New Brunswick on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2000. Members will share resources from their private libraries and computer databases and offer help one-on-one to beginners or to those stuck on a family tree problem. For information contact: rgmess@nbnet.nb.ca

GENTECH, a non-profit volunteer organization, and the San Diego Genealogical Society will host GENTECH2000 "Bridging the Centuries: Bringing Genealogy and Technology Together" in San Diego, California on 28-29 January 2000. A large program is planned. Details are available at: http://www.gentech.org/~gentech/2000home.htm

The Genealogical Society of Yuma, Arizona annual seminar will be held January 29, 2000. Featured speaker will be Jean White of Phoenix. For further information, visit http://www.gsya.org

The Pinellas Genealogy Society (of Largo, Florida) holds its Annual Education Seminar on January 29, 2000. Guest Speaker, Dr. George K. Schweitzer, will present 3 informative lectures at this all-day event. For more details visit: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/8283

The National Genealogical Society and the South Bay Cities Genealogical Society will host a Regional Conference on February 4 - 5, 2000, in Torrance, California. The speakers will be: Christine Rose CG, Curt Witcher MLS, FUGA, John V. Wylie. Details are available at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~casbcs

The McAllen Genealogical Society will hold its annual all-day seminar Saturday, February 5, 2000 in McAllen, Texas. Henry Z (Hank) Jones, the featured speaker, will present four informative and fun lectures. For details, contact: ecmacey@ibm.net

The New Brunswick Genealogical Society, South Eastern Branch’s Feb. 5, 2000 edition of their ongoing Lecture Series will feature "How To Write a Successful Inquiry Letter/Query" and "Finding Female Ancestors," both lectures by Sandra Devlin. The meeting will be held in Moncton, New Brunswick. Details are available from: rgmess@nbnet.nb.ca

The Arizona Genealogical Computer Interest Group is sponsoring Cyndi Howells (of Cyndi’s List fame) for a return visit and full day seminar on Feb. 12, 2000. For further information, contact jcrogers@home.com

*The African American Genealogical Society of Northern California will hold a seminar on 12 February 2000 in Oakland, California, featuring Tony Burroughs, internationally known genealogist, author, teacher and lecturer. For details, see: http://www.aagsnc.org/

The Lake Havasu (Arizona) Genealogical Society will be holding its 7th Annual Seminar on Feb 26, 2000. Guest speaker will be Bill Doty from the NARA discussing Military Sources. For further information, look at: http://www.ctaz.com/~shadgraf/society.htm

Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois, will be offering a series of one-day computer workshops on the following genealogical topics during the month of March 2000: PAF 4.0, Windows for Genealogists, From Document to Computer, Using Online Library Catalogs, Sharing/Exchanging Information Online, Family Tree Maker, Genealogy on the Internet. The presenter will be Michael John Neill. More information is available at: http://www.rootdig.com/sandburg.html

On March 4, 2000, the New Brunswick Genealogical Society, South Eastern Branch’s Lecture Series will feature "Making Sense of the Census" by Eleanor Goggin and "How To Conduct Successful Interview" (with the lecturer to be announced). These lectures are held in Moncton, New Brunswick. Details can be obtained from: rgmess@nbnet.nb.ca

The Williamson County (Texas) Genealogical Society will hold its annual seminar March 11, 2000 in Round Rock, TX. The speaker will be Leslie Smith Collier of Dallas, TX. For more information contact: lar-wan@swbell.net or lremry@aol.com

The Slippery Rock (Pennsylvania) Heritage Association will present an all day workshop on April 1, 2000. The speaker will be Ernest Thode, speaking on various German topics. For more information, contact: hmssagt@aol.com

The April 8, 2000 Lecture Series of the New Brunswick Genealogical Society, South Eastern Branch will feature "Recording Your Research Right the First Time" by Dawn Kinnie and "Picking the Computer Program That is Right for Your Research" by Stan Balch. Meetings are held in Moncton, New Brunswick. For information, send an e-mail to: rgmess@nbnet.nb.ca

The Sonoma County Genealogical Society will hold its annual all-day seminar on 15 April 2000 featuring Curt B. Witcher, Department Manager for the Historical Genealogy Department of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For details, see: http://www.rootsweb.com/~cascgs/witcher.html

*The Eastern Washington Genealogical Society will hold their Annual Spring Seminar, in connection with the Washington State Genealogical Society Conference, on 15th April 2000 in Spokane, WA. The all-day seminar will feature Dr. John Phillip Colletta with lectures on passenger lists, naturalization records among other titles. For information, contact: toppline@cet.com

The Martin County Genealogical Society will hold its annual all-day seminar on Tuesday, 25 April, 2000 in Stuart, Florida. Researching in Ireland will be the topic. Shane MacAteer and Dr. Brian Traynor of the Ulster Historical Foundation of Belfast, Ireland will be the featured speakers. Details are available from: rshep70683@aol.com

ROOTS XVI, the 16th annual all-day seminar sponsored by The Genealogy Workshop of the Huntington Historical Society, Huntington, New York, will be held April 29, 2000. For information, send an e-mail to: wchamber@suffolk.lib.ny.us

*The Monmouth County Genealogy Society will host a Civil War Day at the Fort Monmouth facility on 29 April 2000 featuring speakers, war games, and other activities. For information, contact: beahive@aol.com

*The David Families of France, Louisiana and Canada Reunion will be held April 30, 2000 in Welsh, Louisiana. For further details see http://www.angelfire.com/or/davidlegacy/index.html

*The Alabama Genealogical Society, Inc. will hold its annual spring seminar on May 6, 2000 in Birmingham, Alabama. Leslie Smith Collier will be the lecturer. Details are available from: jylhardy@bellsouth.net or saralindsey@juno.com

The Ontario Genealogical Society will hold Seminar 2000 at the Ottawa Congress Centre in Ottawa on May 12-14, 2000. Details are available at: http://www.cyberus.ca/~ogsottawa/sem2000.htm

The May 6, 2000 New Brunswick Genealogical Society, South Eastern Branch’s Lecture Series will feature "The Internet and Genealogy. Mailing Lists, News groups and E-mail" by Stan Balch and "The World Wide Web and Search Engines, How to Make Them Work for You" by Ron Messenger. Details about this Moncton, New Brunswick meeting are available from: rgmess@nbnet.nb.ca

The National Genealogical Society’s "Conference in the States" will be held in Providence, Rhode Island from May 31 through June 3, 2000. This is the largest genealogy conference in the United States each year. This year’s event will feature more than 100 presentations, seminars and meetings. Details are available at: http://www.ngsgenealogy.com

The CASSELMAN Ancestral Society will be holding an international family reunion July 7-8-9 2000 in Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada, open to all members and friends of the Casselman/Castleman (and other spellings) family. For info, look at: http://www.glen-net.ca/casselman

The Germans From Russia Heritage Society (GRHS) will celebrate its 30th anniversary at its year 2000 convention in Bismarck, North Dakota, July 13-16, 2000. Additional details are available at: http://www.grhs.com.

*The Crandall Family Association will hold its biennial meeting on Saturday 15 Jul 2000 at the First Hopkinton Seventh Day Baptist Church Parish House in Hopkinton, Rhode Island. The theme of this year's reunion will be "Prudence Crandall of Hopkinton". For further details go to: http://www.cfa.net/cfa/reunion.html

*The German Interest Group is hosting "Improving Your German Research" on 15 July 2000 in Whitewater, Wisconsin. The speaker is Shirley J. Reimer from Sacramento, CA, who is the author of "The German Research Companion". For more information see: http://www.angelfire.com/biz/origins1/gig.html

The Alden Kindred of America will hold its 100th meeting in Duxbury, Massachusetts, August 2-6, 2000. Events include a cruise to Provincetown, the Centennial address by The Reverend Professor Peter Gomes at the First Parish Church, Duxbury, a 1620 Theme Dinner at Plimoth Plantation, and the 100th Reunion Celebration at the historic John Alden House Museum. Full details are at: http://www.alden.org.

*The Timen Stiddem Society, a family association for the descendants of this immigrant from Sweden in the 17th century, is holding a "Reunion of the Descendants of Timen Stiddem," August 18-20, 2000, in Wilmington, Delaware, site of the origin of the Stidham family in America. Surname variations include: Stidam, Stidom, Steadham, Stedham, Steddom, and Stedum. More information can be found at: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~tstiddem/index.html

The Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies will host its Annual Rocky Mountain Regional Conference, 22-23 September 2000, Lakewood CO. Featured speakers will be Cyndi Howells, Henry "Hank" Jones, and Christina Schaefer. For details, contact: pakemper@aol.com.

A reunion for anyone who has an interest in, or ancestors from, the Dutch island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the province of Zuid, Holland, will be held in September 2001. This reunion will take place in or near the village of Ouddorp, which has been inhabited since before 300 BC. Participants will not only visit the Genealogical Center in Middelharnis, but also the annual genealogical day, organized by the Zeeland chapter of the NGV, (Dutch Genealogical Society). Details are available at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/1588/

*The Dragoo Family Association (DFA) Biennial Reunion will be held October 12-15, 2000 in San Antonio, Texas. For more information, contact: GWatson3@Compuserve.com

*An O'Mahony get-together to be held in Ottawa, Ontario Canada on October 13-15, 2000. This will be the first Canadian gathering. For information about the society and fall gathering, contact: grandpre@global2000.net

If you would like to submit news, information or press releases for possible inclusion in future newsletters, send them to roots@compuserve.com. The author does reserve the right to accept or reject any articles submitted.

DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is being written and sent via e-mail at no charge. I expect to write one new issue on a more or less weekly basis. However, life sometimes interferes, and the need to earn a living may create an occasional delay.

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The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 1999 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author.

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