Genealogy and DNA

DNA testing, often used to solve crimes and establish paternity,  can be useful in researching your family tree. Read about it here.  Family Tree and Ancestry,  among others, sell kits for submitting DNA samples for inclusion in a nationwide database. This article , from Access Genealogy, lists some drawbacks.

If you're looking for Hernando County obituaries

The library owns more than 100 reels of old Brooksville newspapers, ranging from 1923 editions of the Southern Argus to the final edition of the Brooksville Sun Journal, which ceased publication on June 17^th, 1992. The coverage for 1923 to 1933 is somewhat spotty, due to missing issues and some of the original paper being mutilated.

Unfortunately, our machine (which was donated) broke down frequently, and the cost of repairs was more than the budget could accommodate. Our efforts to find grant money to digitize the film fell short.

So what are your options?

The librarian at the Main branch can search for the obit and deliver it to you via email, snail mail, or fax. There’s no fee, and you don’t need to be a resident of Hernando County.

 If you’re a do- it -yourself-er, and you’re a library card holder, you can check out up to 4 reels at a time from the Main Library on Howell Avenue in Brooksville, and keep them for a week. You can renew if no one is waiting for them, and we’ll need to make a copy of your photo ID.

To view them, you have several options:

The Russell Street Train Depot museum, owned and operated by the Brooksville Heritage Museum, has a microfilm viewer for use by the public. There’s no printing available, however. If you don’t want to transcribe the obit, bring a digital camera with you and photograph it. The depot is located at 70 Russell St, just off South Main Street, and its open Tuesday through Friday, from 12-3, and most, but not all, Saturdays at the same time. Call 352- 799-1729 on Saturday, before you come. If you don’t know the exact newspaper and edition you’re looking for, the depot also has index of obituaries from the local papers going back to the 1920’s. (Also available are Brooksville city directories going back to 1959, and the New York Times on microfilm, from the 1850’s to the 1990’s). 

The Church of Latter Day Saints Family History Center, at 21043 Yontz Road in Brooksville, has machines for viewing and printing. The hours fluctuate, so call 352-796-7403, or email them at fl_brooksville@ldsmail.net.

The PHCC campus libraries do not have microfilm viewers, but if you don’t mind taking a ride, St. Leo University, at 33701 SR 52 in Dade City, does.  They’re open 8 am to 2 am, Sunday through Thursday, and Friday and Saturday, 8 am to 7 pm. Call 352-588-8258 if you have questions.

 As for public libraries, the Homosassa branch of the Citrus County Library, at 4100 S Grandmarch Ave, has a new viewer/printer.  They’re open Monday through Thursday, 10 – 7, and Fri and Sat 10 -5. Their number is 352-628-5626

Finally, if you have a few thousand dollars burning a hole in your pocket and an overdeveloped sense of civic duty, I saw a very nice used machine on ebay…..

Irish Court Records 1850-1910

Cut and pasted from ResearchBuzz:
Irish court records covering 1850-1910 are now available online. “The new database at findmypast.ie, which will have another 15 million cases added during 2012, lists court Petty Sessions order books from 1850 to 1910.”

Get started on your family history

So, you've spent who knows how many years ferreting out your ancestors- tracking down the obituaries, scrutinizing the censuses and the passenger lists, roaming the cemeteries. You have your family tree, your dates of births and deaths, your tidbits of miscellaneous information. You know that Uncle Franz arrived in 1911 aboard the Rotterdam; that great-aunt Katie was living in Newark in 1920, that your great-great-grandfather was a general in the Confederate army or that you are a descendant of a Mayflower signer. 

However glorious or humble your family history is, it’s worthy of a write-up. Here's another brief article from About.com(where would we be without our friends at About?), that helps you kick start the culmination of all your work:

10-steps-to-writing-your-family-history 

Not enough?  Visit your local library and peruse the collection of books on writing your family history.

Names Being Removed from SSDI-

Read about it here:
http://genealogy.about.com/b/2011/12/12/social-security-administration-to-cut-names-from-public-death-master-file-aka-ssdi.htm

The 1940 Census is on the way!

You've waited 10 years, and now your patience is about to be rewarded: at midnight on April 2nd, the National Archives will release the 1940 Census. Ancestry.com will immediately begin the process of downloading each page. Read more about it here:
http://www.ancestry.com/1940?o_xid=21837&o_lid=21837&o_sch=Search

The Ancestry.com Library edition is available at the Hernando County Public Library for library card holders and reciprocal borrowers.