Who Do You Think You Are? : Marisa Tomei

Its Friday so its Who Do You Think You Are? night.
Tonight Marisa Tomei, traveled to Italy to find her Great-Grandparents and find out if the family story of her Great-Grandfather's murder.


If you haven't seen it, or don't want to know the details skip the part between the spoiler alerts.


*Spoiler*
Marisa Travels to the church where her Great-Grandparents are buried, only to find out she was off the year of death for her GGrandfather. Easily fixed she moved on to find their marriage cert. Now the family tale was that her GGrandfather was killed for being a womanizer but according to the paperwork he died of an illness. Of course Marisa digs further to find out what happened. In a newspaper article she finds that he was killed by a man who was arrested on the spot, she travels to the town that he was killed in and She meets with a professor in that town, in a cafe. What he tells her is that she is sitting in the exact cafe that he was murdered in front of, and that it was over a business deal between the two families (the murderer and Marisa's family) that caused it. She had to travel 1hr to the town that the trail was in, and found out that the man that killed him was acquitted but was guilty of carrying a gun which was only a misdemeanor and served 38 days and paid fines, the man then fled the area because of the honor code at the time.


At the end of the episode the researchers had found a cousin 1x removed who, at 88 yrs old, wrote her a letter explaining some things, like how after her GGrandfather died, her GGrandmother remarried and was very happy.
*Spoiler*


In other news if you go to ancestry.com/sweeps you can win the "ultimate family history journey" 3 Grand Prize winners will win a trip valued at $10,000 which includes a trip to the winner's homeland, round trip for two, hotel, and $2,000 in cash, a 6-month Ancestry.com World Explorer membership,and a DNA test. 20 First Prize winners will win 6-month Ancestry.com World Explorer membership. I mean wholly cow thats cool!


One last thing, like my last post I am asking you to sign The We the People petition, posted at http://wh.gov/khE about the SSDI  if you already haven't. We are going to need ALL the help we can get.


We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. ~Shirley Abbott

Stop the blocking of the SSDI: STOP ID THEFT NOW! CAMPAIGN WITH WHITE HOUSE PETITION

In the last few months we have heard a lot about the SSDI being blocked from public use, and yes that includes us genealogist. The issue is that people are using it to comment tax fraud by gaining the SSN and names of deceased individuals, and the government is trying to stop it. The SSDI was created so that the IRS could have a master list to check against when dealing with tax returns. So why aren't they using it like that? Just like SOPA/PIPA that they tried to pass last month this bill is to over reaching, and to large to actually work. 


Just like you I see it from purely the genealogy point of view. My first reaction is WHAT!? HOW WILL I FIND [ insert name]! I NEED THE SSDI....but, we aren't the only people to use it, insurance, the courts, banks, law enforcement etc. all use it to find the next of kin, and to find people. It would raise the cost and make probate and other court cases drawn out and longer then what they already can be now. 


That is why the RPAC (Records Preservation & Access Committee) has created a petition that every genealogist, family historian, researcher, librarian, police officer, judge...well everyone needs to sign. It is asking that instead of taking access away, that the IRS does its  job and double check the tax information against what is in the master files of the SSDI. 


According to the RPAC website:

The We the People petition, now posted at http://wh.gov/khE and accepting signatures, has a simple yet effective mission:

Take immediate steps that would curtail the filing of fraudulent tax refund claims based upon identity theft from recently deceased infants and adults.

No need for lengthy hearings in front of a Congressional committee. No need for filing statements for or against any House action. No need to waste time and effort which could be directed to more pressing national issues. In fact, the National Taxpayer Advocate in 2011 issued suggestions which do not require additional legislation but can be implemented collaboratively between the IRS and Social Security Administration (SSA) almost immediately in time to impact the current tax filing season.

 Please Please Please sign and pass it on to everyone you know. The petition still needs over 24,000 signatures before March 8th! Plus write/email/call your representatives and tell them its not okay to take out the IRS's laziness out on the people. 


We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. ~Shirley Abbott

Flip-Pal Scanner: IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE!

So a few posts back I excitedly told you that I was waiting for my Flip-Pal Scanner. Well guess what!? It came today! EEEK! So far in my test run I love love love it. It is such a great size, around the size of netbook and is so easy to use. All you do is scan then put the SD card into your computer, and it works for PC or Mac. I am so ready to go to the library, and since there are no cords to be hooked up to my computer it will be so easy to use, I can just stand up and go. I don't even have to take my laptop out of the bag if I don't want to.

In the box: The scanner, a flash drive style SD card reader (awesome btw), instructions, and a 2gb SD Card with the software on it, and batteries.

This baby will scan in 300 dpi and 600 dpi, has stitching software (so you can scan something larger and the software magically puts it together), and you can take the cover off and scan things (I will explain later). 

First some examples of scans:

Photo scanned like a normal scanner with the top

Photo scanned with the scanner upside-down

Large painting scanned and stitched together, the black areas are parts that didn't get scanned.

So now you are probably wondering what I mean about it being upside down. We all know what a regular scanner looks like and this one works just like it, but you can also take the cover off and use it!

Like I said in the video, and it is my first, so be kind :), if you have any questions let me know. 

We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. ~Shirley Abbott

Who Do You Think You Are?: Martin Sheen

Ahhh...the new season of Who Do You Think You Are? is finally here! The first celeb to be featured is Martin Sheen, and let me say the things he digs up are the things that we wish we could find and what keeps us (genealogist) going.

Now before you read any further there are a few minor spoilers and one JUMBO one, so if you don't want to know skip everything between the ** starting.....now


**
Martin, who's real name is Ramon Estevez,  was born on Aug 3, 1940 in Dayton, Ohio to a Spanish father and an Irish mother. What he finds is  pretty amazing. He goes first to Ireland then to Spain and finds revolutionaries, illegitimate children, and !JUMBO SPOILER! his 4th great grandfather was a Judge who was after a girl for arrest who had gotten pregnant by what is thought to be a clergy man, and was seeking an abortion, now his 4th great grandmother on his father's side is that girl! His Grandmother and Grandfather were each decedents one of the girl and one of the judge! You just have to see this episode to fully understand.

Would a diagram help? I though it would...and even if you don't need one you are getting one, HA!

**




Okay if you have skipped all that you can read now!




Hint: If you have it on your DVR you will be thankful. Like everything Ancestry. com does their commercials are through out the show and really how many times do you need to hear about the site?




Catch it on NBC Fridays 8/7c or go to the Who Do You Think You Are? website for previews and more info.







We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. ~Shirley Abbott

Flip Pal Scanner

Just a quick post:

Who has 2 thumbs and just ordered her very own Flip Pal Scanner? This Girl!

I know cheesy, but I am so excited. I can already mentally list off all the things I am going to scan with it. I also can't wait to take it to the library and make copies from books. It's going to pay for its self in just copies alone.

Check them out here and order your very own!


We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. ~Shirley Abbott

Wordless Wednesday: Elizabeth (Bowling) Amis

Elizabeth Bowling 

1819-?

Born in Clay County, Kentucky

Married Wiley Horton Amis

My 4th Great Grand Aunt

We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. ~Shirley Abbott