The Genealogue

Gwyneth Paltrow and the Naughty Rabbi

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:35:00 +0000

My latest post at Genealogy Wise reveals the criminal exploits of Gwyneth Paltrow's great-great-grandfather, Simon "The Rabbi" Paltrovitch.

Let's See Him Part the English Channel

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:14:00 +0000

British Conservative Party leader David Cameron has some big ancestral shoes to fill.

[...] Yaakov Wise, a research fellow at the University of Manchester Centre for Jewish Studies, has traced the politician’s ancestry back to Elijah Levita, an eminent 16th-century Jewish scholar. Dr Wise’s study of archival material also suggests that Mr Cameron, who has described himself as an “enthusiastic friend of the Jewish people”, could be a direct descendant of Moses. [Link]

Home Movie Reconstructions 1974 / 2004

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:17:00 +0000

This is all kinds of awesome. Elliott Malkin reconstructed his family's home movies using the same locations and people 30 years later. I'd have to dig up my dead great-grandfather on Christmas and have him sit drunk and dour in an armchair to do this.

Maybe They Just Needed Some Space

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:10:00 +0000

GenealogyWise.com is having a bit of an identity crisis. Looking at Randy's first screenshot from Tuesday, the site identified itself as "GenealogyWise."

But now it says "Genealogy Wise."

Emails from the site said "GenealogyWise" until about 1am EDT, but by about 2am were saying "Genealogy Wise."

Borderline Insanity

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:48:00 +0000

Barbara is looking for a town in Maine near the Canadian border.

I think Lenny said that they also may have been near the Vermont border, if that helps at all.

No, Barbara, that doesn't help at all.

GenealogyWise and Wherefores

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:28:00 +0000

I've started publishing content at GenealogyWise.com—the social network just quietly launched by FamilyLink.com (and loudly announced by Randy). I'm doing this for two reasons: One, (full disclosure) they're paying me a few bucks to do so; and two, it's something I would have done anyway. I haven't jumped on the Facebook genealogy bandwagon, because I prefer to keep my offline private life and online genealogy life separate. If GenealogyWise takes off, I'll be able to socialize with fellow genealogists and be antisocial at the same time. Perfect!

I'll be blogging at GenealogyWise about stuff I don't generally blog about here, including original research about nearly dead celebrities. Feel free to add me as a "friend," because I'm pretty indiscriminate in whom I hang around with online.

Tombstone Too Titillating

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:24:00 +0000

The proposed gravestone of Germany's "most famous prostitute" has been deemed "too slutty" by the powers that be.

The 77-year-old artist Tomi Ungerer’s parting gift to his friend Domenica Niehoff was to be a gravestone featuring two ample pink marble boulders in homage to her famously top-heavy figure. But those responsible for the Garden of Women cemetery, resting place of Hamburg’s most famous women, turned his design down, the paper reported. [Link, via]

Social In-Security

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:02:00 +0000

The Social Security Death Master File (SSDI to you and me) can't be directly used to steal a Social Security number, because the numbers in the index belong to people known to be dead. But researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have found that the Death Master File can be used to predict a living person's SSN—if that person's state and date of birth are known.

CMU researchers Acquisti and Ph.D student Ralph Gross theorized that they could use the Death Master File along with publicly available birth information to predict narrow ranges of values wherein individual SSNs were likely to fall. The two tested their hunch using the Death Master File of people who died between 1972 and 2003, and found that on the first try they could correctly guess the first five digits of the SSN for 44 percent of deceased people who were born after 1988, and for 7 percent of those born between 1973 and 1988.

Acquisti and Gross found that it was far easier to predict SSNs for people born after 1988, when the Social Security Administration began an effort to ensure that U.S. newborns obtained their SSNs shortly after birth.

They were able to identify all nine digits for 8.5 percent of people born after 1988 in fewer than 1,000 attempts. For people born recently in smaller states, researchers sometimes needed just 10 or fewer attempts to predict all nine digits. [Link, via Metafilter]

The State of the Genealogy Blogosphere

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:43:00 +0000

A little over a year ago, I published some statistics gleaned from the Genealogy Blog Finder database. In the past year, I've tinkered with the search engine to make it a bit more efficient and reliable, and added a map showing Who's Blogging Where. A few new categories were added—the most recent being French-Canadian & Acadian Genealogy Blogs. The site has had about 165,000 page views in the past year, bringing the total pages viewed since October 2006 to about 415,000.

The number of blogs in the directory has risen to 1384 since the last report, a net gain of 420 (a 44% increase over last year's total).

Here are some statistics, as of about an hour ago:

142 blogs (10%) were updated in the last two days
329 blogs (24%) were updated in the last week
547 blogs (40%) were updated in the last month
926 blogs (67%) were updated in the last six months
1096 blogs (79%) were updated in the last year
861 blogs (62%) are published on the (free) "blogspot.com" domain
131 blogs (9%) are published on the (free) "wordpress.com" domain
70% of blogs abandoned before 2008 were published on the "blogspot.com" domain
7% of blogs abandoned before 2008 were published on the "wordpress.com" domain
1% of blogs either don't syndicate their content or have an unusable feed
928 blogs (67%) have a geographical location assigned
444 blogs (32%) have the word "Genealogy" in the title
2 blogs have the word "Genealogue" in the title

The most interesting change I see is the increased use of WordPress, which has increased (as a percentage of new blogs added) almost tenfold since last year. Blogger remains the dominant free blogging platform, though, playing host to about two-thirds of the blogs added since June 2008.*

*These numbers don't include WordPress and Blogger blogs hosted on domains other than wordpress.com and blogspot.com.

Déjà Vu All Over Again

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:23:00 +0000

~~Dec. 19, 2006~~ July 6, 2009 — ~~MyFamily.com, Inc.~~ The Generations Network, the leading online network for connecting families across distance and time, today announced that it is changing its name to ~~The Generations Network, Inc.~~, Ancestry.com effective immediately. The company will continue to serve families online through its portfolio of leading brands and websites. [Link]

No Stimulus for Stone-Straightening Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:10:00 +0000

If you're wondering why the stones at your local veterans' cemetery are crooked, ask Joe Biden.

[Members of Biden's stimulus watchdog group] have spent a lot of time trying to kill projects that sound like red alerts on Fox News: a plan for military-cemetery headstone-straightening was scrapped, as was a request for a $10,000 refrigerator to house fish sperm in South Dakota. [Link]

Top Ten Reasons Our Ancestors Came to America

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:47:00 +0000

10. Took wrong turn at Bering land bridge.

9. Slavers seemed pretty insistent.

8. Sought religious freedom and the right to disembowel Quakers.

7. Nothing good to watch on BBC.

6. Took their orders from Neil Diamond.

5. Potato famine put big dent in profits from Irish fish-and-chip franchises.

4. To oppose anyone else being allowed to immigrate to America.

3. Sick of having unpronounceable names.

2. Wanted the right to vote on behalf of their wives.

1. Hoped to one day be listed on Ellis Island website.

[Photo credit: Eagle and American Flag by Bubbels]

Man With Head Wound Thinks He's Abe Lincoln

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:52:00 +0000

John "Abe" Lincoln has much in common with his famous cousin.

John will tell you his nose and ears make him look something like Honest Abe, especially from the right side.

But what really links him to the late President: both men were shot in the head. John Wilkes Booth, of course, shot President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in April 1865. John Lincoln was shot in Southwest Philadelphia in 1971 while working for SEPTA.

"When everybody heard about me getting shot in the head, that's what they started calling me, [Abe]," he said. "People call me John, and I don't respond to it. People call me Abe, I respond to it." [Link]

Only in 2077, when a third distant Lincoln relative is shot in the head, will police recognize this as a conspiracy.

Congresswoman Takes Leave of Her Census

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:04:00 +0000

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says she's not going to fill out her 2010 census form. So Will Caskey filled one out for her.

He said that on a recent slow Friday at his Democratic opposition research firm, he drafted his own census form based on earlier questionnaires and scoured Google and public records for answers — on Bachmann.

He filled in the form [pdf] with her address, phone number, salary and home value, among other peeks into the congresswoman’s life in Minnesota. According to Caskey’s report, she lives on a 2.75-acre property in Stillwater, Minn., in a house that has between eight and 11 bedrooms.

“She can and should expect that people look at the public aspect of her life,” Caskey said. “For her to say that the questions are very personal, it’s a little silly.” [Link]

Caskey couldn't figure out from public records "whether she is selling agricultural products in her home, the state of her mental health, how much she is spending on fuel, or her ancestry." I, too, am not sure about her mental health, but her ancestry is Norwegian.

Island Romance Unlikely

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:38:00 +0000

Could Sandi Schneider's mother have been conceived on Ellis Island?

No, cohabitation was not permitted at Ellis Island. Detained male and female immigrants were sent to separate quarters. Children stayed with their mothers in the women’s dormitories.

Genealogue Challenge #143

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:47:00 +0000

Actor Karl Malden has died.

By whom were his parents married?

Extra credit: What were the names of Karl's maternal grandparents?

The Out-of-Wedlock Come Out of Hiding

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:06:00 +0000

The next edition of Burke's Peerage and Gentry will include more bastards than usual.

The guide, which lists the genealogy of every royal and aristocratic family in the Europe and the U.S., is to include illegitimate children for the first time.

Mr Bortrick said today many people from titled families did not marry, referring to the decision to list illegitimate children.

'It is just common sense to list their children. Although we would probably not list them if there was a scandal or anything.' [Link]

The guide will also begin listing children in order of birth, rather than males first, thus taking "a step into the 21st century." I find it rather impressive that they've stepped from the 19th century directly into the 21st.

To 'e' or Not to 'e'?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:33:00 +0000

Greene Street in North Smithfield, R.I., was named after General Nathanael Greene. Or perhaps it's actually "Green" Street, named after a local Green family—or maybe after the village green, or the color green.

The debate over the spelling of this street seems to draw equally strong opinions on both sides. It is perhaps most illustratively displayed in the green painted lettering above the door on the old grange, where the last "e" in Greene appears to have been painted over in white.

"Green Street was named after the village green," says North Smithfield's unofficial town historian Irene Nebiker, who, though sure of the inspiration, was not sure the source or original timing of the name.

Denise Davis, a longtime resident who serves as secretary in the town's Planning Department, said that despite those who would say otherwise, "Green" is the wrong spelling.

"Legally it's supposed to be with an 'e,' she said. "On the 9-1-1 list, it's with an 'e.'"

And the sign outside the Planning Department's window that shows a "Green" spelling?

"The street sign is wrong," said Davis. [Link]

They Play on Grass, Park on Graves

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:58:00 +0000

St. Mary's Church in Wimbledon Village is allowing tennis fans to park on top of graves in its churchyard for £20 a day.

One resident, Tim Brown, 38, said it was completely 'out of order'.

'The expression to feel like someone's walked over your grave - well imagine a 4x4 parked over your grave.'

Reverend Mary Bide said that although the cars look 'odd', they were only parked in the oldest part of the graveyard and funds raised would make a 'valuable contribution to the Church and the Diocese'. [Link]

While You're At It, You're Not Really an Island

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:43:00 +0000

There is a movement afoot in Rhode Island to change its official name from "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" to just "State of Rhode Island." Why? Because the word "plantation" conjures up "images of slavery."

In 1663, English King Charles II granted a royal charter joining all the settlements into a single colony called "The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." The name stuck. Rhode Island used that royal charter as its governing document until 1843.

Opponents of the name charge argue that "plantations" was used at the time to describe any farming settlements, regardless of slavery. [Link]

"Plantation" has been used for centuries in Maine to denote a limited form of government—something more than a township and less than a town. I never knew when I was a kid visiting my grandparents' camp in Lincoln Plantation that I was condoning the enslavement of African Americans.

The Mystery of Ms.

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Ben Zimmer has antedated the title "Ms." to 1901.

On page 4 of the Springfield (Mass.) Sunday Republican of November 10, 1901, under the heading "Men, Women and Affairs," is the following item, in which the writer suggests that "a void in the English language" may be filled by Ms., pronounced as "Mizz," as an alternative to Miss or Mrs.

He also cites a far earlier example of Ms. used an an abbreviation.

Some have theorized that Ms. has roots long before the 20th century. One piece of evidence that has been put forth is the tombstone of Sarah Spooner, who died in 1767 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. As you can see from this image, what appears on the headstone is M with a superscript s. As Dennis Baron writes in his excellent book Grammar and Gender (1987), "it is certainly an abbreviation of Miss or Mistress, and not an example of colonial language reform or a slip of the chisel, as some have suggested." [Link]

Heeeeeeeeeere's a Dubious Family Story!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:26:00 +0000

Ed McMahon related this story in his 1998 book, For Laughing Out Loud: My Life and Good Times:

It was my father who told me about my great-great-great-grandfather, Patrick Maurice Mac-Mahon, the president of France. General Patrick Mac-Mahon was an Irishman, but according to my father, Napoleon III loved him and was instrumental in his becoming the president of France in 1873. And according to my father, in his honor his favorite sauce was named Macmahonaise, which was eventually shortened to mayonnaise. People have sent me cookbooks that seem to confirm this derivation of mayonnaise. It's possible we really were related to the Irish president of France. But like many of my father's stories, it doesn't matter if every part is true. It's a story that belongs in the most prominent position on the top shelf.

Does it matter if any part is true? According to Wikipedia, "mayonnaise made its English language debut in a cookbook of 1841." And the ancestors of Ed's supposed great-great-great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland to France in the mid 1700s, while the parents of Ed's paternal grandfather, Joseph F. McMahon, emigrated from Ireland to Massachusetts more than a century later. It's pretty clear that Ed McMahon did not descend from the president of France—nor even from the amiable sidekick who laughed at all of the president's jokes.

[Photo credit: "Ed McMahon" by Alan Light]

Reaction Brings No Retraction

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:01:00 +0000

Some readers of a Reuters' article about British supercentenarian Henry Allingham thought they had caught the news service in an error.

This story states “Allingham’s life has spanned three centuries and six monarchs” which I believe would actually make him 300 years old not 113. Just a little catch.

P.S.

One century is 100 years. Three centuries is 300 years. If he is 113 years old, he has lived for one century and thirteen years.

H.S.

A surprising number of readers made similar comments about this reference. This is a fairly common way of saying someone lived DURING three centuries - the 19th, 20th and 21st. We’re aware that he isn’t 300 years old: GBU EDITOR [Link]

Barroom Baby Boomer

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:19:00 +0000

DNA testing helped Richard Hill figure out who his biological father was—and even the probable circumstances of his conception.

His closest match, the test showed, was a man in Florida with the last name of Richards. He e-mailed the man and asked if he had relatives in Michigan. The answer was, "No."

Hill turned back to his growing pile of records. He pulled out a copy of his mother's Social Security work record he had ordered 16 years earlier. It showed she had worked at a bar called Dann's Tavern in Livonia in 1945. The bar owner's name was Douglas S. Richards.

"Bingo," he said.

Since then, Hill has concluded he likely was conceived around Aug. 14, 1945, V-J Day, a time of celebration and drinking marking the Japanese surrender and the end of World War II. [Link]

Bigot Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:53:00 +0000

If Nick Griffin—leader of the racist British National Party—had his way, his own ancestor would have been locked up, or maybe even kicked out of Britain.

The hate-mongering right-wing boss, 50, has branded travellers “anti-social and criminal”.

So it will be a shock to his followers to discover his great-grandfather George Griffin was a hawker who went from town to town selling cheap goods.

A 1871 census report shows he lived the gypsy way of life, never settling or being fully accepted into the community. He roamed in a horse and cart with his wife Esther and their family, flogging crockery and living in a caravan. [Link]