History of the Village and Parish of Dylągowa

Posted on April 28, 2008 by Steve

A couple of days ago, I translated the Słownik Geograficzny entry for the Polish village of Dylągowa, the seat of the parish in which I believe my paternal grandmother was baptized and married.

Since then, I’ve done some additional research on the history of the village.

The location was settled in 1484 and, at that time was called Vylagowa. In 1489 the village was called Dylagowka, in 1515 it was called Dilagowa, and in 1559 it was called Dyliągowa . Finally, in 1700, it assumed its present name: Dylągowa. The name apparently originates from the first settler, Johannes Dyląg, whose nickname dyląg means long man or stick.

Historical records first mention Dylągowa in 1484 and state that the place belonged to Piotr Kmita.

In the 16th Century, the local parish priest, Andrzej from Dynów, advocated the Reformation in his homilies and was excommunicated by the Bishop of Przemyśl . In 1552, the Roman Catholic Church in Dylągowa was seized and looted by Calvinists, led by Stanisław Stadnicki, who had also taken over the church in nearby Dubiecko. Stanisław’s son, Marcin Stadnicki of Żmigród, castellan of Sanok, granted a new endowment to the Roman Catholic Church in 1625.

In 1703, the church burned down and documents regarding the early history of the church in Dylągowa were destroyed. In 1706, Teofil Czartoryski and Stanisław Pęklaski endowed a new church. This church was built of wood and named for Saint Zofia.

In the years 1906-1911, a stone church, again under the name of Saint Zofia, was built in the Romanesque style on new ground by the Reverend J. M. Steliński. This church was 33 meters long, 15 meters wide, and 12 meters high. The main altar and two side altars were brought from the old wooden church.

The village of Dylągowa experienced hard times during World War II . Because of an attack on the command of Second Lieutenant Aleksander Grube (alias “The Vulture”) in the guard of the Ukrainian Police in Jawornik Ruski, a decision was made to “pacify” Dylągowa. The rectory of the church was taken by the occupying armies. Residents were sent to Siberia or to the German Death Camps. On 25 Apr 1944, any residents still in the village were imprisoned in the church and convicted to death. The church was to be blown up with the people inside. The Reverend Fr. Paściak prepared the people for the explosion and distributed Holy Communion. In the end, the lives of the residents were spared when the Reverend Father sacrificed his own life.

On 04 Oct 1945, Dylągowa and the neighboring villages of Bartkówka, Łączki, Sielnica and Pawłokoma were burned to the ground by the Ukrainian Rebel Army in retaliation for an attack on Pawłokoma.

Except for the church, everything in Dylągowa had been burned and many of the residents had been killed. The corpse of the Reverend Father was taken to the cemetery by sled and his body was buried there. On 01 Jan 1946, the parish in Dylągowa ceased to exist.

After the war, the village of Dylągowa was rebuilt. The Reverend M. Pawul and the parishioners reconstructed the rectory and restored the church. In the present church, on the main altar, new pictures of Saint Zofia, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a crucifix with the figures of Saint Jan and Our Lady at the Grave were installed. New pictures of Saint Antoni and the Mother of God were placed on the side altar. The Stations of the Cross are oil paintings that originate from the year 1888. In the steeple of the church there are two bells, a 300 kilogram bell named Jan and a 150 kilogram bell named Zygmunt.

A 17-voice organ was purchased in 1954 and was built by local craftsmen. Polychromes of Professor K. Szumczak were obtained in 1961. In 1963, the tabernacle was installed and the church was finally wired for electricity. Between 1978-1980, loudspeakers were installed, wood paneling was added, a commemorative plaque was affixed to the church, and a new roof was completed.

In the parish cemetery there still exist gravestones from the 19th century, including those of Aleksander Starzeński (d. 1831) and Roza née Zabielski Kamieniecki (d. 1843).

Written for the Carnival of Genealogy.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

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I Scanned and I Scanned and I Scanned

Posted on April 27, 2008 by Steve

Today was Scanfest, hosted by Miriam of Ancestories. It was the first time I had participated in Scanfest, and for good reason: I haven’t had a scanner in years.

But, that has now changed.

I now own three scanners: a Planon Docupen Pen Scanner, an IRIScan Express 2 Portable Scanner, and an Epson Perfection V700 Photo Flatbed Scanner.

Today at Scanfest, I experimented with scanning negatives with the Epson Perfection V700. I tried scanning with different film holders for the negatives. I tried scanning the negatives without a film holder. I tried different settings in the software. I tried scanning at different resolutions. I tried saving to TIFF and JPEG formats.

At the end of the three hour Scanfest, I had actually scanned only one negative.

Still, I had learned a lot.

The negatives I tried to scan were not 35 mm negatives. They were either 2.25 in x 3.25 in negatives or 2.25 in x 2.25 in negatives. Although the negatives fit in one of the film holders perfectly, the software insisted I was scanning slides and broke the negatives into pieces as I tried to scan multiple negatives simultaneously.

I ended up using the medium format film holder that held my negatives perfectly. When I tried to scan the negatives without a film holder, the negatives tended to curl up a bit and the scans were less than acceptable. However, I had to tell the software that I wasn’t using a film holder in order to get acceptable scans.

I tried scanning multiple negatives simultaneously, but the exposure of the various negatives varied significantly and a single scan of eight negatives resulted in some of the images being underexposed and some perfectly exposed. I ended up scanning one negative at a time, which gave me optimal results.

I tried scanning at 600 dpi, 720 dpi, 800 dpi, and 1200 dpi. As expected, the higher resolutions gave me better quality images, although the improvement in quality was apparent only after I zoomed in on the images to see the detail. With the improvement in quality and resolution came a price. The file sizes at 1200 dpi were extremely large . I decided that scanning at 800 dpi was a good trade-off in terms of good resolution with a manageable file size.

I first tried scanning in JPEG format, but remembered Sally Jacobs‘ recommendation to save the original scan as a TIFF image, since JPEGs save the file using lossy compression. So, I rescanned and saved to TIFF format (about 6-9 MB per image), cropped and edited the images in Photoshop, and saved the images in JPEG format with a final file size of about 1 MB per image.

So, here’s an example of the final output of one of these files. The photo is of my sister’s bedroom in my parents’ apartment on Russell Road in Albany, New York. The photo was taken in December of 1953, just after Christmas. I know the photo was taken just after Christmas because the roll included photos of opened gifts under a Christmas tree . I could deduce the year, because the same roll included photos of my sister who appeared to be only a few months old at the time. Hence, the photos were likely taken in December 1953, probably between Christmas and the end of the year. Indeed, the photos may have been taken on Christmas Day itself, a likely occasion for picture taking.

My Sister's Bedroom on Russell Avenue

My Sister’s Bedroom on Russell Road

SOURCE: My Sister’s Bedroom on Russell Road (Albany, Albany County, New York). Photographed by Frank or Jane Danko in late December 1953.

The format of this negative was 2.25 in x 2.25 in, meaning that the photo was taken using my parents’ Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Camera. This camera was introduced by Kodak in 1950 and discontinued it in 1961. I suspect the camera may have been a Christmas present in 1953 because these 1953 images are the earliest negatives in my parents’ collection . I now own the very same Brownie Hawkeye Camera that was used to take these pictures, since it was one of the things I rescued from my parents’ house before it was sold in December.

I remember my father talking about papering the walls of my sister’s bedroom himself. The pattern is fairly busy, and so I zoomed in on the scanned image to get a better look. Click on the pictures to see a larger version of the images.

The Wallpaper and Crucifix on the Walls of My Sister's Bedroom

The Wallpaper and Crucifix on the Walls of My Sister’s Bedroom

SOURCE: The Wallpaper and Crucifix on the Walls of My Sister’s Bedroom (Albany, Albany County, New York). Photographed by Frank or Jane Danko in late December 1953.

While the image is a bit fuzzy at this magnification, one can still discern some of the images: a lion tamer and lion, a monkey playing baseball, and a fiddler playing to a group of animals. Still, in the middle of this busy wallpaper, you can see a crucifix on the wall, something I didn’t really notice until I blew up the photo. My sisters and I all had identical crucifixes in our bedrooms, identical except for the colors: white, pink, and blue.

I ended up scanning a total of 28 negatives today. Scanning went a lot more quickly after I worked out the details of how to scan. I’ll have to plan on scanning the rest of the negatives on a regular basis, perhaps weekly, if I ever hope to scan all the negatives I have in my collection. I only have about 600 more of these 2.25 in x 2.25 in negatives to go, and then I can move on to other size negatives!

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko

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The Polish Village of Dylągowa

Posted on April 26, 2008 by Steve

The Polish village of Dylągowa is the location of the parish in which my paternal grandmother was probably baptized and in which my paternal grandparents were probably married. It lies close to the village of Nienadowa where my paternal grandfather lived.

Austrian Military Map of Dylagowa

Austrian Military Map of Dylągowa – 1901 

SOURCE: Third Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary, Sheet 40-50, Przemyśl. Online http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/digkonyv/topo/200e/40-50.jpg; downloaded 26 Apr 2008.

Slownik Geograficzny Entry for the Village of Dylagowa

Słownik Geograficzny Entry for Dylągowa

Source:  Source:  Sulimierski, Filip, Bronisław Chlebowski, and Władysław Walewski, eds., Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavonic Countries) – Warsaw 1881, Volume II, page 244..

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Słownik Geograficzny entry for Dylągowa. Translated from the Polish, the entry reads:

Dylągowa (with Wola), a village, Brzozów powiat [district], about 25 km to the northeast of Brzozów, and 9 km to the southeast of the post office in Dynów .  A Roman Catholic parish is in the place, a Greek Catholic parish is in Pawłokowma .  There are 148 houses and 1000 inhabitants;  the larger property includes 154 mórgs [in Galicia, 1 mórg was about 1.422 acres] of soil under cultivation, 68 mórgs of pastures and gardens, 437 mórgs of pastures, and 103 mórgs of forest .  A full-time, one classroom school is in the village .  The first construction rights for the foundation of a church were lost .  It seems that the church here together with the church in Dubiecko was changed to the heretical Protestant church by Stanisław Stadnicki .  His son, Marcin Stadnicki, castellan (governor of the castle) of Sanok (1625), certified the endowment of the church, already restored to the Catholics, with a new charter .  The wooden church, built in 1706 under the name of Saint Sofia, was consecrated in 1711 .  There are 875 Catholic residents .  14 villages belong to the parish:  Borownica, Dąbrówka, Gdyczyna, Huty, Jasionów, Jawornik ruski, Pawłokowa, Poręby, Pracówka, Siedliska, Sielnica, Wola, Wołodź, Żochatyn;  there is one school .  Altogether, there are 2537 Catholics and 113 Jews in the parish.

I have been told that the historical records of Baptisms, Marriages, and Births are no longer located at the church. The Diocesan Archives holds a copy, but researchers are not allowed to view them because the books are in poor condition.

The maps of the Third Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary and the entries in the Słownik Geograficzny were prepared at about the same time and make a good pair for studying places in and around the Congress Kingdom of Poland at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, a time period when the Eastern European ancestors of present-day Americans left their homelands for the United States.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

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The Birth and Baptism of Maryanna Niedziałkowska – 1866

Posted on April 25, 2008 by Steve

On 22 Sep 1866, Maryanna Niedziałkowska, the daughter of Ludwik Niedziałkowski and Józefa Pomaska was born in Pomaski. She was baptized the next day, 23 Sep 1866, in the church in Szwelice.

The Birth and Baptismal Record of Maryanna Niedzialkowska - 1866

The Birth and Baptismal Record of Maryanna Niedziałkowska – 1866

SOURCE: Parafia pw. św. Jana Chrzciciela (Szwelice, Maków Powiat, Łomża Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland). Księga Ochrzczonych parafii Szwelice od 1853 do 1869 r, Maryanna Niedziałkowski baptism (1866); FHL microfilm 1958805.

Click on the image above to enlarge it. Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of Maryanna Niedziałkowska – 1866. Translated from the Polish, the record states:

Pomaski
76.

It happened in the ecclesiastical village of Szwelice on twenty-third day of September in the year one thousand eight hundred sixty-six at the hour of one o’clock in the afternoon .  Ludwik Niedziałkowski presented himself, thirty-three years of age, heir to a part [of the village], living in Pomaski, in the presence of Walenty Nossarzewski, fifty years of age, and Józef Nossarzewski, forty-seven years of age, heirs to a part [of the village] living in Pomaski and he showed Us a child of the female sex, declaring that she was born in Pomaski yesterday at the hour of twelve midnight, born of his wife Józefa née Pomaska, twenty-seven years of age. At Holy Baptism performed this day by the Reverend Ignace Kotakowski, pastor of this place, the child was given the name Maryanna and the Godparents were the married couple Józef and Barbara Nossarzewski. This document was read aloud to the declarants and witnesses and signed by Us alone because the declarants and witnesses cannot write.
               Rev[erend] Ig[nace] Kotakowski, Pastor of Szwelice
               Maintaining the Public Register

This is one of the records I found at the Family History Library while attending UPGS 2008.

Maryanna Niedziałkowska was born in the Congress Kingdom of Poland in 1866, a year after the January Uprising was finally crushed and the last of the insurgents sent to Siberia.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

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The Birth and Baptism of Petronella Niedziałkowska – 1864

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Steve

On 09 Apr 1864, Petronella Niedziałkowska, the daughter of Ludwik Niedziałkowski and Józefa Pomaska was born in Pomaski. She was baptized the next day, 10 Apr 1864, in the church in Szwelice.

The Birth and Baptismal Record of Petronella Niedzialkowska - 1864

The Birth and Baptismal Record of Petronella Niedziałkowska – 1864

SOURCE: Parafia pw. św. Jana Chrzciciela (Szwelice, Maków Powiat, Łomża Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland). Księga Ochrzczonych parafii Szwelice od 1853 do 1869 r, Petronella Niedziałkowski baptism (1864); FHL microfilm 1958805.

Click on the image above to enlarge it. Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of Petronella Niedziałkowska – 1864. Translated from the Polish, the record states:

Pomaski Wielkie
35

It happened in the ecclesiastical village of Szwelice on tenth day of April in the year one thousand eight hundred sixty-four at the hour of two o’clock in the afternoon .  Ludwik Niedziałkowski presented himself, thirty years of age, heir to a part [of the village], living in Pomaski, in the presence of Felix Grzybowski, forty years of age, and Stanisław Chodkowski, forty years of age, living on their fortune in Pomaski and he showed Us a child of the female sex, declaring that she was born in Pomaski yesterday at the hour of eight o’clock in the evening, born of his wife Józefa née Pomaska, twenty-four years of age. At Holy Baptism performed this day by the Reverend Ignace Kotakowski, pastor of this place, the child was given the name Petronella and the Godparents were Piotr Napierkowski and Petronella Nosarzewska. This document was read aloud to the declarants and witnesses and signed by Us alone because the declarants and witnesses cannot write.
               Rev[erend] Ignace Kotakowski, Pastor of Szwelice
               Maintaining the Public Register

This is one of the records I found at the Family History Library while attending UPGS 2008.

Petronella Niedziałkowska was born in the Congress Kingdom of Poland in 1864 during the time of the January Uprising.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

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The Birth and Baptism of Józef Niedziałkowski – 1862

Posted on April 23, 2008 by Steve

On 24 Oct 1862, Józef Niedziałkowski, the son of Ludwik Niedziałkowski and Józefa Pomaska was born in Pomaski. He was baptized the next day, 25 Oct 1862, in the church in Szwelice.

The Birth and Baptismal Record of Jozef Niedzialkowski - 1862

The Birth and Baptismal Record of Józef Niedziałkowski – 1862

SOURCE: Parafia pw. św. Jana Chrzciciela (Szwelice, Maków Powiat, Łomża Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland). Księga Ochrzczonych parafii Szwelice od 1853 do 1869 r, Józef Niedziałkowski baptism (1862); FHL microfilm 1958805.

Click on the image above to enlarge it. Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of Józef Niedziałkowski – 1862. Translated from the Polish, the record states:

Pomaski
80.

It happened in the ecclesiastical village of Szwelice on twenty-fifth day of October in the year one thousand eight hundred sixty-two at the hour of nine o’clock in the morning .  Ludwik Niedziałkowski, [one word?] presented himself, twenty-eight years of age, living in Pomaski, in the presence of Jan Pomaski, forty-four years of age, and Konstanty Grzybowski, thirty years of age, heirs to a part [of the village] living in Pomaski and he showed Us a child of the male sex, declaring that he was born in Pomaski yesterday at the hour of nine o’clock in the morning, born of his wife Józefa née Pomaska, twenty-three years of age. At Holy Baptism performed this day by the Pastor Ignace Kotakowski, the child was given the name Józef and the Godparents were the married couple Józef and Barbara Nossarzewski. This document was read aloud to the declarants and witnesses and signed by Us alone because the declarants and witnesses cannot write.
               Rev[erend] Ig[nacy] Kotakowski, Pastor of Szwelice
               Maintaining the Public Register

This is one of the records I found at the Family History Library while attending UPGS 2008.

Józef Niedziałkowski was born and died in the Congress Kingdom of Poland in 1862, just a few months before the January Uprising.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

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The Death and Burial of Jan Wojciech Niedziałkowski – 1797

Posted on April 22, 2008 by Steve

On 30 Jul 1797, Jan Wojciech Niedziałkowski, the son of Tomasz Niedziałkowski and Cecylia Chodkowska died and was buried in the cemetery of the parish in Krasne.

The Death and Burial Record of Jan Wojciech Niedziałkowski - 1797

The Death and Burial Record of Jan Wojciech Niedziałkowski - 1797

SOURCE: Parafia pw. św. Jana Chrzciciela. (Krasne, Departement der Kriegs- und Domainen-Kammer zu Plozk, Provinz NeuostpreuíŸen, Kingdom of Prussia) Akta zgonów 1778-1808, Jan Niedziałkowski death (1797); FHL microfilm 1496579.

Click on the image above to enlarge. Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Death and Burial Record of Jan Wojciech Niedziałkowski. Translated from the Latin, the record states:

Mosaki Godacze

On the 30th of July 1797, an infant by the name of Jan died, two weeks old, the son of the nobles Tomasz and Cecylia Niedziałkowski, legally married. Buried in the Cemetery.

This is one of the records I found at the Family History Library while attending UPGS 2008.

Jan Wojciech Niedziałkowski was born and died in the Province of New East Prussia, a province of the Kingdom of Prussia created on 24 Oct 1795 by the Third Partition of Poland. The Province of New East Prussia was short lived. The area was incorporated into the Duchy of Warsaw on 09 Jun 1807.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

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Monday at UPGS 2008

Posted on April 21, 2008 by Steve

Today’s UPGS 2008 program was largely devoted to research in the Family History Library.

The International Floor was buzzing with activity as Polish researchers swarmed the microfilm readers. Unused readers were hard to find.

I heard several people speak of successes. I had an unexpected success today as I reviewed the microfilms for my Niedziałkowski ancestors from the Szwelice parish in Poland. I had decided to carefully review the films for this parish to try to catch anything I’ve missed before and to try to find a connection between my Niedziałkowski ancestors and the other Niedziałkowskis in the Szwelice records.

In doing so, I found a marriage record for Adam Bonislawski and Petronella Niedziałkowska. Seeing this marriage record rang a bell in my head: where had I seen those names before?

Then it struck me – those were the parents of Czeslawa Bonislawska, the wife of my Great Grand Uncle, Franciszek Niedzialkoski! I have a record of them in the 1900 US Federal Census with their three children who were born in Poland: Czeslawa, Jan, and Władysław. I also have the marriage record of Franciszek Niedzialkoski and Czeslawa Bonislawska who were married in Massachusetts in 1904.

And, there’s more! Petronella’s parents were Ludwik Niedziałkowski and Józefa Pomaska, who were already in my database. Even if Franciszek and Czeslawa had not married, I’d be related to them both!

The UPGS 2008 conference held its closing banquet this evening after the Family History Library closed. The keynote speaker was Steve Morse who spoke on his “One-Step” WebPages. It seems that my path keeps crossing that of Steve Morse, but that’s really not surprising. Steve is a very popular speaker. His keynote address at UPGS 2008 was his 100th speaking engagement, an occasion he celebrated by showing a picture of a 100 złoty Polish banknote!

I have one more day of research at the Family History Library before I return to San Francisco. Wish me luck for my last day in Salt Lake City!

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

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Sunday at UPGS 2008

Posted on April 20, 2008 by Steve

Zzzzzzzz.

Everyone here at UPGS 2008 has commented on how slow the WiFi connection is here at the Plaza Hotel. The slow speed caused a few speakers to change their presentations since reliable, fast Internet connections can’t be secured.

To top things off, the city is planning to shut the electricity off at the hotel tonight. I guess I’ll be using the alarm on my cell phone tonight.

Today, I attended a Skype conference with Poland, a lecture by Orvill Paller on his visit to Poland with the Genealogical Society of Utah (the Family History Library), a demonstration of AncestryPress by Kelvin Hulit, a lecture on Social Media by Beau Sharbrough, and a lecture on Post-Mortem Records by Ceil Jensen.

The final event of the evening was a Funeral Card scanning party, where participants brought their Polish Funeral Cards to be scanned by dedicated volunteers (including me). The scanned images will be uploaded to a free database on Footnote.com.

That’s all for now. I’m signing off, hoping to get this article posted before the power goes out!

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

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Saturday at UPGS 2008

Posted on April 19, 2008 by Steve

Today the weather in Salt Lake City was a bit overcast and breezy, though still warm. The weather made little difference, since I spent most of the day in the sessions at the United Polish Genealogical Societies Conference at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel.

The first order of business was a Skype Conference hosted by Tomasz Nitsch whereby we connected with the Polish Genealogical Association meeting in Gdansk; with Adam Kamiński, president of the Pomeranian Genealogical Association; and with Marek Jerzy Minakowski, webmaster of the http://www.wielcy.pl website.

Adam Kamiński explained how the genealogical societies in Poland were organized and described some of the projects of the Polish Genealogical Association and the Pomeranian Genealogical Association, including efforts to digitize and index sources of genealogical information . One project of the Pomeranian Genealogical Association is to photograph and index records of the Pelpin Diocese, allowing visitors to view the records on computer, thus helping preserve the original records.

Marek Jerzy Minakowski showed how to access his website and search for information about Poles important in history. I searched for the surname Niedziałkowski in the database and found several entries for individuals with this surname.

A Skype Conference was also held with Fred Hoffman in Connecticut who discussed Polish given names and surnames. He mentioned that, while Polish given names number in the hundreds, Polish surnames number in the hundreds of thousands, and that surnames did not become consistent in Poland until after the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. Some common suffixes that Fred mentioned include:

-icz, -ycz, -owicz, -ewicz = “son of”

-owski, -ewski, inski, -ynski = place name

-ala, -ała = “one who is always doing”, prominent feature

-ek, -ak, -ik, -yk, -uk = diminutive (-uk most common east of Poland’s current borders)

The final presentations of the morning were Kahlile B. Mehr’s talk about Acquisitions at the FHL and my own talk on Genealogy Blogs: New Ways to Disseminate Genealogy Information on the Internet. I missed Kahlile’s talk, of course, since mine was at the same time. My talk on blogs included information on the types of blogs, how to set up a blog, advantages of blogs, and a survey of the variety of genealogy blogs on the internet today.

The first afternoon session I attended was Beau Sharbrough’s talk about Polish Research on Footnote.com, a survey of the records on Footnote.com and how user contributed content greatly enhances the value of the site.

I then attended Michael Hall’s presentation on the Family History Books Digitization Project at the FHL. I was quite surprised to discover that the project to digitize family histories involves the cooperation of the Allen County Public Library, the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU, BYU Hawaii, the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research at the Houston Public Library, the Family History Library, and the LDS Church History Library. Over 11,000 titles are currently available as searchable PDF files at a number of internet locations including http://www.familyhistoryarchive.byu.edu, http://www.familysearch.org, http://lib.byu.edu/online.html, and http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/index.html.

The final presentation I attended for the day was Baerbel Johnson’s discussion of online mailing lists, in particular the mailing lists at Rootsweb: http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/. She discussed the value of subscribing by either the LIST version or the DIGEST version of the mailing list, provided hints for searching for relevant lists (don’t get too specific with the search terms), showing good “list manners”, and posting effective queries.

I finished up the day by attending the banquet of the California Genealogical Society held at Lamb’s Grill in Salt Lake City, the final event of the CGS research week at the Family History Library. I had an enjoyable time having dinner with my fellow CGS members who discussed their successes at the FHL that week. I look forward to reading about the event on Kathryn’s CGS Blog.

It’s now late in the evening. There’s another busy day in store for me at the UPGS conference tomorrow, with eleven talks including my presentation on Genealogy Gadgets and Gizmos. I’ll be speaking right after lunch in a room without windows, so that should allow everyone to get a good hour’s nap in the early afternoon!

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

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