Only at Genealogy Gems can I dance with my great great grandfather Conover Burket! (who's face you will recognize from the Genealogy Gems Logo!) Happy New Year Everyone!! Lisa
Stop wrapping presents for a minute! You've got some future planning to do. The Family History Expo 2008 is just around the corner and you're DEFINITELY going to want to be there. Let's whet your appetite by watching this video and then I'll tell you more...
It's definitely going to to be genealogy jammed packed fun! Be sure and go to http://www.myancestorsfound.com/ and register today. Then mark it in your calendar on Feb. 8 & 9, 2008, and make note to come by and say "hi" to me in Booth #208 in the Exhbit Hall. If you're interested in a brush-up on Google, I'll be presenting "Google: A Goldmine of Genealogy Gems" at 4:30 pm on Friday. It's going to be so much fun, and even more if you're there!
The word is out and the rush is on for Ancestry subscribers to find ancestor passports in the newly released U.S. Passport applications from 1795 to 1925. I logged on this morning and searched first for those ancestors that I knew made trips abroad. Folks like my husband’s grandfather and great grandfather on his father’s side, and his great uncle on his mother’s. In the case of his grandfather and great grandfather no records existed, which confirms my suspicions that these English immigrants had not completed the naturalization process by 1925. While I know they made a return visit home to England, they did not have U.S. passports.
Great uncle Clint Mansfield was a renowned travel writer. However, having been born in 1898 he was not yet in the full swing of his career by 1925 (at age 27) and therefore there were no records to be found.
However, tenacious podcast listener Pat Dalpiaz had better luck with her husband’s great uncle and emailed to tell me about it:
“I was recently pleased to find one of my husband's great granduncle's. To my delight (the application) included a picture. Although the quality is not great, which is to be expected, my husband glanced at it and immediately noticed how much he resembles this great granduncle. I think a light went on for him at that moment and with a little bit of careful work on my part, perhaps I will have a new research partner!”
Oh, the excitement of seeing that little light go on in the eyes of our non-genealogist loved ones! That’s the icing on the cake!
I also discovered some very interesting and surprising things about the passport database that I’ll be talking about in Episode 36 of the Genealogy Gems Podcast that you won’t want to miss. If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast yet, go to http://www.genealogygems.tv/ and click the iTunes button. You will also find a Google button for adding the a Genealogy Gems feed gadget to your iGoogle homepage. Episode 36 will be published on Sunday Dec. 9. Talk to you then!
Lisa
P.S. Be sure and leave a comment and tell us about your passport discoveries!
