library acquires three new civil war collections
Brenda kellow
may 12, 2013
The Genealogy Library added two new collections for North Carolina and one for South Carolina. Librarian Cheryl Smith described the collections as follows: “North Carolina Regiments 1861-1865 (five volumes), North Carolina Troops 1861-1865 A Roster (18 volumes) and The South Carolina Regimental-Roster set (ten volumes have arrived). All three sets cover units who participated in the War Between the States. These collections contain histories of the regiments, their various commanders, and staff officers assigned throughout the war. There are lists of soldiers by unit. (Each volume has an index for quick reference.)”
FREE GENEALOGY PROGRAM: The topic is Family Tree on FamilySeach.org, presented by Lynell Moss. It is from 10:30 a.m. to noon on May 18 in the program room at the W. O. Haggard, Jr. Library, 2501 Coit Road. For additional information, please check the Genealogy Friends website at www.genealogyfriends.org, phone 972- 836-9436 or e-mail [email protected]. Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc. is a non-profit organization certified under §501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.
FIND IT ON THE WAY BACK MACHINE: When you have lost a web site of your own or one you want to access again, do not forget to search for it on the Way Back Machine or Internet Archive, http://archive.org/. On this site, you can browse over 240 billion web pages archived from 1996 to earlier this year. All you have to do is type in the web address of the page you are hunting and the year you want to begin the search. This site is much like the archive at the New Library of Alexandria, Egypt. If you don’t find what you are searching for at Internet Archive, then try the Alexandria Library at http://archive.bibalex.org. I have successfully used this site several times.
MOCAVO ANNOUNCES SURNAME GROUPS: Mocavo’s Surname Groups are new and a tool to help you network with other genealogists. They offer the database free for seven days. I know my readers complain about having to submit credit cards to the companies to use the free service, but these are opportunities to judge whether certain databases are helpful to you. The only downside is that you must be astute about checking at the end of the free period to make certain you opt out of the paid subscription. Companies offer free databases connected to a credit to know exactly who is using their site. In the past, some technically savvy subscribers copied databases and uploaded them to the internet both free and by subscription. That is illegal.
All genealogists are familiar with Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet, www.cyndislist.com/us/. Cyndi has worked on that site for the benefit of fellow researchers for many years before the internet bloomed into what it is today. I was shocked to find that someone took her site and published it on the internet as their own. Her site is still free and most helpful. There is currently a lawsuit pending to convict this person. This is one of the reasons sites like Ancestry.com let you use parts of their site for free with your name, address and credit card information.
GOOGLE LAUNCHES KEEP: Google’s newly re-released Keep rivals Evernote and OneNote for those who use electronic notes to remember the staggering number of things occurring in your daily life and while you are at the research center or archives. I like the way Tony Bradley at PC World equates the note taking software as “sticky notes on steroids.” These apps save your text, links, photos and recordings to help you organize your life. Read Bradley’s review at www.pcworld.com/article/2031818/google-keep-vs-onenote-vs-evernote-we-name-the-note-app-winner.html.
SimpleNote, www.simplenote.com/, is another note-taking app for the smart phone or android and it is free. I use this one, not for genealogy, but for keeping track of my reading material. A free app for genealogy word documents and Excel spreadsheets that I find or create and save is Documents2. It is also free. Read about it at www.savysoda.com/Documents2/.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].