Thursday, December 31, 2020
Sunday, December 27, 2020
How Photo Retouching Worked Before Photoshop
BY JOCELYN SEARS JULY 28, 2016
This is the first installment in a short series of articles on photo manipulation in the days before computers.
In 1841, the Englishman William Henry Fox Talbot patented the calotype—the first practical photographic process to create a negative that could generate multiple copies. Just five years later, in 1846, the first known act of photographic retouching was performed by a Welsh colleague of Talbot’s named Calvert Richard Jones, or perhaps by one of Jones’s associates. Jones had taken a photograph of five Capuchin friars on a rooftop in Malta, but while four of the friars were clustered together talking in a group, the fifth hovered a few feet behind them, framed awkwardly against the sky. Jones, or an associate, didn’t like the way this fifth friar was interrupting the scene, and so blotted out the figure on the paper negative using some India ink. In the positive print, the place where the fifth friar had stood became white sky.
Additional story at:
(photo/Reditt.com)
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Saturday, December 19, 2020
Visting Dead Relatives on Google Street Images
Google Maps is meant to look up addresses, but it can also provide a window into the lives of the recently deceased.
Three years after her grandparents’ deaths, 19-year-old Luisa Hoenle looked up their old house on Google Maps. Feeling nostalgic if not a bit masochistic, the Switzerland-based art school student input their street address and then clicked on the Street View icon, which showed panoramic photos of the property.
Built decades ago by her grandfather Siegfried, the house had fallen into disrepair since his death from cancer in 2016, its once lush lawn now filled with withered and dying plants. But on Google Street View, Hoenle found older images of the home from before its decline. She scrolled through the photographs, reminiscing when she noticed something else: her grandfather.
Read more of this story from JESSIE SCHIEWE at https://www.okwhatever.org/topics/things/dead-relative-google-street-view
Puritan Virtue Names
If you are researching early Colonial records in your family, chances are you will find an unusual name, used by the Puritans.
The Puritans of the 16th and 17th centuries used many virtue names which have fallen mostly out of use today. There are however, a remaining use of Faith, Hope, Cherish, and Joy. The following list were used during the early Puritan years.
Abstinence
Accepted
Aid-on-high
Amity
Approved
Arise
Ashes
Assurance
Be-courteous
Be-faithful
Benevolence
Belief
Beloved
Be-strong
Be-thankful
Called
Charity
Clemency
Comfort
Concord
Confidence
Consider
Constance
Constancy
Constant
Continent
Deliverance
Delivery
Depend
Desire
Difficult
Diffidence
Diligence
Discipline
Discretion
Donation
Dust
Earth
Elected
Endure
Experience
Faint-not
Faith
Faithful
Faith-my-joy
Fare-well
Fear
Fear-not
Fear-the-Lord
Felicity
Fidel
Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith
Flie-Fornication
Fly-debate
Fly-fornication
Forsaken
Fortune
Freegift
From-above
Given
Give-thanks
Godly
God-reward
Grace
Gracious
Handmaid
Has Descendents
Hate-evil
Hatill (Hate-ill)
Helpless
Help-on-High
Honesty
Honour
Hope
Hope-for
Hopeful
Hope-still
Humanity
Humble
Humiliation
Humility
If-Christ-had- not-died-for- thee-thou-hadst- been-damned
Increase
Increased
Jesus-Christ-came- into-the-world- to-save
Job-raked-out-of-the-ashes
Joy
Joy-again
Joye-in-sorrow
Just
Justice
Kill-sin
Lament
Lamentation
Learn-Wisdom
Lively
Live-well
Love
Love-well
Magnify
Make-peace
Meek
Merciful
Mercy
More-fruit
More-trial
Moses
Much-mercy
Nehemiah
No-merit
Obedience
Original
Pardon
Patience
Peaceable
Perseverance
Piety
Praise-God
Preserved
Providence
Prudence
Purific
Purify
Recompense
Redeemed
Reformation
Refrayne
Rejoice
Rejoyce
Remember
Renewed
Repent
Repentance
Replenish
Resolve
Resolved
Restore
Return
Safe-deliverance
Safe-on-high
Salvation
Search-the-scriptures
Seek-wisdom
Silence
Sincere
Sin-deny
Small-hope
Sorry-for-sin
Sorrowful
Stand-fast-on-high
Steadfast
Submit
Supply
Temperance
Thankful
Thanks
The-Lord-is-near
The-peace-of-God
Thurgood
Tribulation
Troth
Truth
Unfeigned
Unity
Verity
Victory
Virtue
Wealthy
Weep-not
What-God-will
Wrestling
Zeal-for-the-Lord
Zeal-of-the-Land
Understanding Patronymics
A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (i.e., an avonymic), or an even-earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage. In such instances, a person is usually referred to by their given name, rather than their patronymic.
Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many places worldwide, although their use has largely been replaced by or transformed into patronymic surnames. Examples of such transformations include common English surnames such as Johnson (son of John).
In
England, names ending with the suffix "son" were often originally
patronymic. In addition, the archaic French
(more specifically, Norman)
prefix fitz (cognate with the modern French fils,
meaning "son"), appears in England's aristocratic family lines dating
from the Norman
Conquest, and also among the Anglo-Irish.
Thus there are names such as Fitzgerald and Fitzhugh. Of particular interest is
the name "Fitzroy", meaning "son of king", which was used
by illegitimate royal children who were acknowledged as such by their fathers.
In Dutch, patronymics were often used in place
of family names or as middle names. Patronymics
were composed of the father's name plus an ending -zoon for sons, -dochter
for daughters. For instance, Abel Janszoon
Tasman is "Abel son of Jan Tasman", and Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer:
"Kenau, daughter of Simon Hasselaer". In written form, these endings
were often abbreviated as -sz. and -dr. respectively e.g. Jeroen
Cornelisz. "Jeroen son of Cornelis", or Dirck Jacobsz.
The endings -s, -se
and -sen were also commonly used for sons and often for daughters too.
In the northern provinces, -s, as genitive
case, was almost universally used for both sons and daughters.
Patronymics were common in the Dutch United
Provinces until the French
invasion in 1795 and subsequent annexation in 1810. As the Netherlands were now
a province of France, a registry of births, deaths and marriages was
established in 1811, whereupon emperor Napoleon forced the Dutch to register
and adopt a distinct surname.[6] Often, they simply made the
patronymics the new family names, and modern Dutch patronymic-based surnames
such as Jansen, Pietersen and Willemsen abound. Others chose their profession
or habitat as family names: Bakker (baker), Slachter (butcher), van
Dijk (of dike) etc.
When
the first census of 1671 of the residents of Delaware, their existed naming
problems that had existed as early as 1638-1682 - is the fact that few of the
Swedes, Finns and Dutch actually had surnames. Most of them stayed with the
patronymic naming system which prevailed in their native countries. Thus, Eskil
Larsson's son Bärtil was known
as Bärtil Eskilsson and the latter’s son Anders, was known as Bärtilsson, which
became modified to Andrew Bartleson in the hands of the English scribes.
Nicknames
were also common. Thus, Gerrit Jansen, the Dutch blacksmith at New Castle, was
also known as Gerrit de Smith (his
occupation) and Gerrit van Beck (his
place of origin). In the patronymic tradition, however, his sons were known as
Gerritsen (later Garretson.
Similarly,
among the Swedes, Finns and Dutch, women kept their maiden names throughout
their life. Thus, the Dutch woman Sarah Neering was twice married. She was
still called Sarah Neering in the will of her second husband, Foppe Jansen
Outhout. A Swedish orphan named Christina Ollesdotter was known by that name
throughout her life, surviving two husbands, the Dutch soldier Walraven Jansen
de Vos and the Swedish barber-surgeon Timen Stiddem.
Under
the influence of English custom, most of the Swedes, Finns and Dutch had
adopted surnames by the end of thr 17th century. Sometimes the patronymic
formed the basis for the surname (e.g. Mårtensson to Morton, Gustafsson to Justice,
Jochimsson to Yocum). Sometimes the surname was invented, such as Långåker, meaning “long field” in Swedish, which
became Anglicized to Longacre.
(excerpt
Pg viii, 1671 Census of the Delaware, Peter Stebbins Craig)
My DNA Doesn’t Match Who I Thought I Was. Now What?
DNA testing is meant to give us insight into who we are and where we came from. It is meant to anchor us in a culture and a history and a location that provides stability and context to our lives. But often, it becomes the catalyst for a serious examination of our sense of identity.
DNA has managed to reign supreme when it comes to deciding who we are. Instead of turning to childhood memories of Grandma’s secret pasta recipe or stories of our ancestor’s adventures in ancient cities, we ask our DNA to help us know who we are. So when it tells us we are 42% Italian, somehow that is stronger proof than our own dark hair, olive skin, and penchant for pasta.
That means, when we see unexpected results in our supposedly irrefutable DNA test, we are faced with the need to reconcile what we thought about not just our heritage, but our very selves.
Read more at FamilyTree, including steps to consider when testing does not match your expectations at https://www.familytreemagazine.com/dna/results/dna-identity/
Three Steps for Prioritizing Which DNA Matches to Research First
Which of your AncestryDNA or 23andMe matches are most important to your research? The answer is simple, but maybe not straightforward: the DNA matches that are going to answer your research question. You can follow these concrete steps to determine which DNA matches are the most important for your research.
Follow the Three Steps at www.familytreemagazine.com
(FamilyTree)
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Don't Forget! Always Cite Your Sources !
Top Five Reasons to Cite Your Sources in Your Genealogy
Are you citing your sources in your genealogy research? If you are not, you should be. Citing sources may seem like a chore, but there are some very important reasons to make sure you always do it. Here are the five top reasons why you should cite your sources in your genealogy work.
Listen to the podcast at https://ancestralfindings.com/genealogygold/
Other researchers who may use it, particularly those in future generations, to know it is accurate, so they will feel good about putting your research to use in their own family trees. You have probably come across research that you were not sure was correct. This is probably because the information seemed suspicious, and/or no source for the information was cited.
Additional text at https://ancestralfindings.com/top-five-reasons-to-cite-your-sources-in-your-genealogy/
Free Genealogy e-books to assist your research
I’m sure these ebooks will provide you with plenty of food for thought in your genealogy adventures. Donations are greatly appreciated.
Download various titles at Ancestral Findings https://tinyurl.com/y8qh7gew
Titles include:
America's First Ladies
American Folklore
Christmas Traditions
Genealogy Helps Vol. 1-13
The Lost Treasures of Francis Wainwright
The Origin and Meaning of Surnames
The Unsung Heroes of the Civil War
Who's Who in the American Revolution
Who's Who in the Wars of the Roses
The 1890's Veteran's Census-Substitutes for the 1890 US Federal Census
There are several good substitutes for the 1890 US federal census. Just because it is gone does not mean you can’t find out what your ancestors were doing during that time, or the twenty years between the 1880 and 1900 censuses. The 1890 Veterans Census, aka Veterans Schedule, is an excellent 1890 census substitute. This is what you need to know about it.
To learn more, listen to the podcast at https://ancestralfindings.com/genealogygold/
Additional text about the 1890 Veteran's Census go to: https://tinyurl.com/y8aoyqyz
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Family Tree has revised its website
Explore articles on everything from research strategies to DNA testing, to heirloom preservation. Also, be sure to check out our collection of free downloadable forms and worksheets.
Take a browse, and you'll find links to Family History Interview Question Ideas, Create a Family History Website, Family Tree Podcast, and much more.
You won't be disappointed.
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