Finding Treasures and Fun in Garage Sales

In the United States the 2nd Saturday of August is National Garage Sale Day. The timing of this yearly event makes sense. August marks the approaching end of summer and families are enjoying their final weekends before the start of the school year. It’s a good time to sell what the kids have outgrown or search for what they will need. The holidays are just around the corner which means most people have an eye towards purging unwanted items and making some money for the expenses that they will face in the upcoming months.

Whether you call it an estate sale, tag sale, yard sale, or garage sale, the sale of your unwanted household items, toys, and clothes in front of your home is something that most of us have either done or gone to looking for deals. For the genealogist, yard sales can mean some great deals on vintage items that we remember our families owning or wish we kept.

Additional story at: https://news.legacyfamilytree.com/legacy_news/2019/08/garage-sale-weekend-national-garage-sale-day.html

The Mysterious Epidemic That Terrified Henry VIII

This summer, while updating my 'royal-connections', I discovered that King Henry VIII, was a second cousin, 17 times removed. While "17 times removed" is a very long time ago, it still counts as a cousin - right ?


Scientists still can't figure out the cause of the Tudor-era "sweating sickness"
Erin Blakemore

In 1528, Henry VIII slept in a different bed every night—and not in the way you might think. He did have a mistress, his wife’s lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn. But it was fear of disease that drove him to move almost daily that summer. The king was terrified of sweating sickness, a deadly epidemic that
is nearly forgotten today.

Scientists are still fascinated by the mysterious disease, which swept through Europe multiple times during the Tudor period. Beginning in 1485, five epidemics plagued England, Germany and other European countries. But the epidemic’s origins and even the identity of the disease are still murky.

Additional story at: History - https://www.history.com/news/the-mysterious-epidemic-that-terrified-henry-viii

Finding Genealogy Clues in Coroner’s Records

another interesting article from Legacy's Tips from the Experts

Did your ancestor meet a tragic or untimely death? Perhaps you tracked down his or her death certificate and it included a notation about an autopsy, and/or a medical certificate of death, with the signature of a coroner or medical examiner.

Death certificates are staples of genealogy research, but many times there is more to the story. Coroners investigated all types of unexplained deaths from drug overdoses to drownings, mishaps to murders, making their records useful for learning more about an ancestor.


A coroner is a public official whose primary function is to investigate by inquest any death thought to be of other than natural causes or occur under unusual circumstances. Sometimes an elected position, the Office of the Coroner dates back to the Anglo-Saxon Common Law system of government, making it the oldest administrative office. This is sometimes an elected position, and the individual may not have a medical background. The powers and responsibilities have changed over the years.

Additional text at: https://news.legacyfamilytree.com/legacy_news/tips_from_the_experts/

Man, 33, Meets Father, Half-Siblings, and Grandparents for the First Time Thanks to MyHeritage DNA

Growing up, MyHeritage user Kevin Williams always wished to have a father. It was a DNA upload to MyHeritage — and a helping hand from MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet — that finally cracked the case for him.

After months of dead ends, I used the power of social media to try and break through the walls. I was not expecting what happened next. The CEO of MyHeritage saw the post and decided to help. He found an alternative way of making contact. This was absolutely mind-blowing!

Additional story at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2019/08/man-33-meets-father-half-siblings-and-grandparents-for-the-first-time-thanks-to-myheritage-dna/ DNA testing,

Millions of Books are Secretly in the Public Domain !

And YOU Can Download Them for Free !

A quirk of copyright law means that millions of books are now free for anyone to read, thanks to some work from the New York Public Library.

Everyone is paying for books when they don’t have to. There’s so many ways to read almost anything ever published, for free, that it borders on the obscene. Libraries: They’re good! Sure, if you want the latest release from your favorite author you either have to pay or wait for a copy from the library, but for millions of older books, you can get a digital version, legally, for free. One secret of the publishing industry is that most American books published before 1964 never extended their copyright, meaning they’re in the public domain today.

Read more about this GREAT deal at: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kz4e3e/millions-of-books-are-secretly-in-the-public-domain-you-can-download-them-free

Archdiocese of Boston: St. Peter (Dorchester) now searchable

Today we’ve added six new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from St. Peter in Dorchester. This update adds over 38,000 records and over 126,000 names to search.

Earlier this week we announced the extension of the Historic Catholic Records Online project up through the year 1920. This update includes 1901-1920 records when available in these volumes.
St. Peter (Dorchester) began in 1872 as an offshoot of St. Gregory in Dorchester. In James Sullivan’s One hundred years of progress, Joseph Byrne enthusiastically describes the appearance of the church which was dedicated in 1884, “No technical description can do more than faintly suggest the grandeur of St. Peter’s church which is a poem of architectural beauty” (175). The Dorchester Athenaeum’s history of the church has a very helpful paragraph (the sixth on the page) that explains the evolution of the Catholic parishes in Dorchester.

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making this parish available on our site. The new volumes are listed below:
St. Peter (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1872-1887
St. Peter (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1887-1895
St. Peter (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1895-1908
St. Peter (Dorchester) Confirmations, 1882-1920
St. Peter (Dorchester) Marriages, 1872-1897
St. Peter (Dorchester) Marriages, 1897-1920

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Additional information at: https://www.americanancestors.org/search/databasesearch/2726/massachusetts-roman-catholic-archdiocese-of-boston-records-1789-1900

Setting the Record Straight on Colonial Provinces and Colony Names

While entering states into your genealogy databases - have you ever wondered what the correct name for Georgia or the other twelve, before they became a state ? While most researchers opt for listing these as they are now known, during colonial days, Delaware, Maryland and the others were not states, but instead were known as  a colony or a province. Virginia during colonial days was known as Colony and Dominion of Virginia. The following list can assist your research as well as keeping a concise and correct name for those once known as the Thirteen Colonies.

Thirteen Colonies

The chart below lists the 13 original colonies in alphabetical order, along with information about when each colony was founded and when each colony became a state:
 

	Founded				Statehood
Connecticut	1636				January 9, 1788
Delaware	1638				December 7, 1787
Georgia	1732				January 2, 1788
Maryland	1633				April 28, 1788
Massachusetts	1620				February 6, 1788
New Hampshire	1638				June 21, 1788
New Jersey	1664				December 18, 1787
New York	1626				July 26, 1788
North Carolina	1653				November 21, 1789
Pennsylvania	1682				December 12, 1787
Rhode Island	1636				May 29, 1790
South Carolina	1663				May 23, 1788
Virginia	1607				June 25, 1788

Contemporary documents usually list the thirteen colonies of British North America in geographical order, from the north to the south.

New England colonies 

·         Province of New Hampshire, later New Hampshire, a crown colony

·         Province of Massachusetts Bay, later Massachusetts and Maine, a crown colony

·         Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, later Rhode Island, a crown colony

·         Connecticut Colony, later Connecticut, a crown colony

Middle colonies 

·         Province of New York, later New York and Vermont,^[3] a crown colony

·         Province of New Jersey, later New Jersey, a crown colony

·         Province of Pennsylvania, later Pennsylvania, a proprietary colony

·         Delaware Colony (before 1776, the Lower Counties on Delaware), later Delaware, a proprietary colony

Southern colonies 

(Virginia and Maryland comprised the Chesapeake Colonies)

·        Province of Maryland, later Maryland, a proprietary colony

·        Colony and Dominion of Virginia, later Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia, a crown colony

·        Province of North Carolina, later North Carolina and Tennessee, a crown colony

·        Province of South Carolina, later South Carolina, a crown colony

·        Province of Georgia, later Georgia, northern sections of Alabama and Mississippi, a crown colony

Other divisions prior to 1730

Dominion of New England

Created in 1685 by a decree from King James II that consolidated Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, Rhode Island, Connecticut,Province of New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey into a single larger colony. The experiment collapsed afterthe Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, and the nine former colonies re-established their separate identities in 1689.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Settled in 1630 by Puritans from England. The colonial charter was revoked in 1684, and a new charter establishing an enlarged Province of Massachusetts Bay was issued in 1691.

Province of Maine

Settled in 1622 (An earlier attempt to settle the Popham Colony in Sagadahoc, Maine (near present-day Phippsburg and Popham Beach State Park) in 1607 was abandoned after only one year). The Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed the Maine territory (then limited to present-day southernmost Maine) in the 1650s. Parts of Maine east of the Kennebec River were also part of New York in the second half of the 17th century. These areas were formally made part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in the charter of 1691.

Plymouth Colony

Settled in 1620 by the Pilgrims. Plymouth was merged into the Province of Massachusetts Bay in the charter of 1691.

Saybrook Colony

Founded in 1635 and merged with Connecticut Colony in 1644.

New Haven Colony

Settled in late 1637. New Haven was absorbed by Connecticut Colony with the issuance of the Connecticut Charter in 1662, partly as royal punishment by King Charles II for harboring the regicide judges who sentenced King Charles I to death.

East Jersey and West Jersey

Settled as part of New Netherland in the 1610s, New Jersey was captured (along with New York) by English forces in 1664. New Jersey was divided into two separate colonies in 1674, which were reunited in 1702.

Province of Carolina

Founded in 1663. Carolina colony was divided into two colonies, North Carolina and South Carolina, in 1712. Both colonies became royal colonies in 1729.