ManyRoads

  • ManyRoads

    Global Conflicts

    I have begun a small effort to gather and present tools to help identify on-going world conflicts, as well as sites focused on analyzing active ‘wars’. Active Conflicts Critical Threats Defcon Level Warning System Geopolitical Monitor Global Conflict Tracker Global Incident Map International Rescue Committee Live Ukraine War Map A World in Crisis: The Winter Wars of 2022-2023 Think Tanks The Atlantic Council The Brookings Institute Cato Institute Center for Strategic & International Studies Council on Foreign Relations Harvard Kennedy School Institute for the Study of War Modern War Institute The Rand Corporation If you are interested in this topic, you may find or list (links) of value. Should you…

  • ManyRoads,  Site

    My Books Read

    If you are interested in the books I have read, below are my yearly listings (on GoodReads).  You may view my GoodReads profile, as well [visual-link-preview encoded=”eyJ0eXBlIjoiZXh0ZXJuYWwiLCJwb3N0IjowLCJwb3N0X2xhYmVsIjoiIiwidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZHJlYWRzLmNvbS91c2VyL3llYXJfaW5fYm9va3MvMjAxNyIsImltYWdlX2lkIjotMSwiaW1hZ2VfdXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9zLmdyLWFzc2V0cy5jb20vYXNzZXRzL2xheW91dC9nb29kcmVhZHNfbG9nb18zMjQtYTkwOGI5MjNkYzNlZDliN2ExM2YzZGE0ZDFmZmIyZGYucG5nIiwidGl0bGUiOiIyMDE3IEJvb2tzIFJlYWQiLCJzdW1tYXJ5IjoiQm9va3MgUmVhZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoidXNlX2RlZmF1bHRfZnJvbV9zZXR0aW5ncyJ9″]   [visual-link-preview encoded=”eyJ0eXBlIjoiZXh0ZXJuYWwiLCJwb3N0IjowLCJwb3N0X2xhYmVsIjoiIiwidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZHJlYWRzLmNvbS91c2VyL3llYXJfaW5fYm9va3MvMjAxOCIsImltYWdlX2lkIjotMSwiaW1hZ2VfdXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9zLmdyLWFzc2V0cy5jb20vYXNzZXRzL2xheW91dC9nb29kcmVhZHNfbG9nb18zMjQtYTkwOGI5MjNkYzNlZDliN2ExM2YzZGE0ZDFmZmIyZGYucG5nIiwidGl0bGUiOiIyMDE4IEJvb2tzIFJlYWQiLCJzdW1tYXJ5IjoiQm9va3MgUmVhZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoidXNlX2RlZmF1bHRfZnJvbV9zZXR0aW5ncyJ9″]   [visual-link-preview encoded=”eyJ0eXBlIjoiZXh0ZXJuYWwiLCJwb3N0IjowLCJwb3N0X2xhYmVsIjoiIiwidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZHJlYWRzLmNvbS91c2VyL3llYXJfaW5fYm9va3MvMjAxOSIsImltYWdlX2lkIjotMSwiaW1hZ2VfdXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9zLmdyLWFzc2V0cy5jb20vYXNzZXRzL2xheW91dC9nb29kcmVhZHNfbG9nb18zMjQtYTkwOGI5MjNkYzNlZDliN2ExM2YzZGE0ZDFmZmIyZGYucG5nIiwidGl0bGUiOiIyMDE5IEJvb2tzIFJlYWQiLCJzdW1tYXJ5IjoiQm9va3MgUmVhZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoidXNlX2RlZmF1bHRfZnJvbV9zZXR0aW5ncyJ9″]   [visual-link-preview encoded=”eyJ0eXBlIjoiZXh0ZXJuYWwiLCJwb3N0IjowLCJwb3N0X2xhYmVsIjoiIiwidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZHJlYWRzLmNvbS91c2VyL3llYXJfaW5fYm9va3MvMjAyMCIsImltYWdlX2lkIjotMSwiaW1hZ2VfdXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9zLmdyLWFzc2V0cy5jb20vYXNzZXRzL2xheW91dC9nb29kcmVhZHNfbG9nb18zMjQtYTkwOGI5MjNkYzNlZDliN2ExM2YzZGE0ZDFmZmIyZGYucG5nIiwidGl0bGUiOiIyMDIwIEJvb2tzIFJlYWQiLCJzdW1tYXJ5IjoiQm9va3MgUmVhZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoidXNlX2RlZmF1bHRfZnJvbV9zZXR0aW5ncyJ9″]   [visual-link-preview encoded=”eyJ0eXBlIjoiZXh0ZXJuYWwiLCJwb3N0IjowLCJwb3N0X2xhYmVsIjoiIiwidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZHJlYWRzLmNvbS91c2VyL3llYXJfaW5fYm9va3MvMjAyMSIsImltYWdlX2lkIjotMSwiaW1hZ2VfdXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9zLmdyLWFzc2V0cy5jb20vYXNzZXRzL2xheW91dC9nb29kcmVhZHNfbG9nb18zMjQtYTkwOGI5MjNkYzNlZDliN2ExM2YzZGE0ZDFmZmIyZGYucG5nIiwidGl0bGUiOiIyMDIxIEJvb2tzIFJlYWQiLCJzdW1tYXJ5IjoiQm9va3MgUmVhZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoidXNlX2RlZmF1bHRfZnJvbV9zZXR0aW5ncyJ9″]   [visual-link-preview encoded=”eyJ0eXBlIjoiZXh0ZXJuYWwiLCJwb3N0IjowLCJwb3N0X2xhYmVsIjoiIiwidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZHJlYWRzLmNvbS91c2VyL3llYXJfaW5fYm9va3MvMjAyMiIsImltYWdlX2lkIjotMSwiaW1hZ2VfdXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9zLmdyLWFzc2V0cy5jb20vYXNzZXRzL2xheW91dC9nb29kcmVhZHNfbG9nb18zMjQtYTkwOGI5MjNkYzNlZDliN2ExM2YzZGE0ZDFmZmIyZGYucG5nIiwidGl0bGUiOiIyMDIyIEJvb2tzIFJlYWQiLCJzdW1tYXJ5IjoiQm9va3MgUmVhZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoidXNlX2RlZmF1bHRfZnJvbV9zZXR0aW5ncyJ9″]   This year (2023): [visual-link-preview encoded=”eyJ0eXBlIjoiZXh0ZXJuYWwiLCJwb3N0IjowLCJwb3N0X2xhYmVsIjoiIiwidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZHJlYWRzLmNvbS91c2VyL3llYXJfaW5fYm9va3MvMjAyMyIsImltYWdlX2lkIjotMSwiaW1hZ2VfdXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9zLmdyLWFzc2V0cy5jb20vYXNzZXRzL2xheW91dC9nb29kcmVhZHNfbG9nb18zMjQtYTkwOGI5MjNkYzNlZDliN2ExM2YzZGE0ZDFmZmIyZGYucG5nIiwidGl0bGUiOiIyMDIzIEJvb2tzIFJlYWQiLCJzdW1tYXJ5IjoiQm9va3MgUmVhZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoidXNlX2RlZmF1bHRfZnJvbV9zZXR0aW5ncyJ9″]

  • ManyRoads

    Ukraine War (WWWIII ?) News

    Ukraine War News: This European conflict is thought by many to be World War III (in a modern hybrid warfare guise). All news articles on our Ukraine War Flipboard magazine are curated daily (assuming I’m near a computer). ‘Most propaganda’ has been avoided. Russian apologist propaganda and non-factual materials are avoided, such as is possible. The articles provided on our Ukraine War Flipboard Magazine are significantly biased towards military-related information, as well as academic and European sources. Ukraine War News (WW III?)  

  • German Genealogy Pointers,  ManyRoads,  Mennonites

    Researching the Eastern European German Diaspora (Tutorial)

    ManyRoads is pleased to provide this free Eastern European Diaspora “self-help” to individuals researching those regions. Hopefully, you will find the materials below to be of interest and assistive. By way of introduction, this ‘tutorial’ focuses on the populations of Germans in Eastern Europe which reached more than 18 million people scattered in former German communities. Their settlement area was roughly bounded by the Oder-Neisse River (West), the Ural Mountains (in the East), the Baltic Sea (in the North) to Turkey (in the South). Be advised, this tutorial only covers research in the former German Eastern European settlement regions (described above). The Americas, Australia, New Zealand, etc. are not covered.…

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  • Newsboy Club
    ManyRoads,  Tips & Opinions

    Somewhere new to research…

    A tutorial /case study Often, when I read/ hear of people being stuck in their research, it seems rather than being ‘stuck’ they are actually experiencing a lack of resources to further their research.  To help researchers find new “fields” to hunt, I thought a small example/ discussion/ verily a “case study” might prove useful and instructive. Obviously, this “tutorial”, only provides a limited ‘focus’. Hopefully, the clues here will provide readers a better sense of the types of resources available for research.  Hopefully this will empower you and increase your probability of success. This brief “case study” assumes the following: A need for expanded research information in the US/…

  • ManyRoads

    Affiliate Programs

    Now you can support ManyRoads at no-cost to you. Simply buy from those vendors you may already use.  (We are working at identifying additional affiliate programs to join.) To-date we are affiliates of the following firms: Ancestry.com MyHeritage Great Courses PublicData (Vital Records) Up to 60% Off HOSTGATOR Hosting + $4.99 on Select Domains -use- Promo Code 60OFF2017! By simply linking and purchasing from any of the above, you will be helping to fund the work of ManyRoads.

  • ManyRoads,  Shoah

    Leo Hubert & Hedwig Schülein (Their Life and Fate)

    The following post represents the latest information I have on my partner and friend’s grandparents, mother, and uncle. May they never be forgotten. Leo Hubert, merchant, was born on 14 November 1891 in Cronheim, Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen, Bayern, Germany to Ruben Hubert and Emma, née Ebert. Leo fought with distinction in the First World War and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class, the Bavarian Military Cross 3rd class, and the insignia of the wounded. (Military records are available from Ancestry.com or from the author, if requested via the ManyRoads contact page.) On 16 May 1922 he married Hedwig Sara Schülein. Hedwig Sara geboren Schülein was born 25 Feb 1901 Thalmässing, Regensburg,…

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  • laurel-speedway
    ManyRoads

    1,000,000+ Visitors

    ManyRoads is very pleased to announce that we have passed our 1,000,000th site visitor. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by. As many of you already know, the work and information contained on our site have evolved ‘quite considerably’ over the years into its current format. This represents the product of our 20+ year genealogical journey. If you enjoy our site and wish to see it grow, there are a few things you can do to help us share our work and discoveries. If you have a website, you can place a link from your site to ManyRoads. Are you a social media user/ fan/ guru? If so, please…

  • ManyRoads News
    ManyRoads

    ManyRoads’ Newsletter

    ManyRoads is pleased to announce that we will begin publishing a genealogical Newsletter once we have reached 100 subscribers. The ManyRoads’ Newsletter is free and will include tips & updates. Our first issue will contain a single question survey to help me gauge interests for future tips and guidance, for both Blog Posts here and future Newsletters. As you might guess, our Newsletter will be biased towards information regarding Prussia, German, Mennonite, Shoah (Holocaust) and French America research. Please signup/ subscribe for your free subscription to the ManyRoads Newsletter!! (top right-hand side of the screen) ===>  

  • ManyRoads

    Why do genealogy ??

    I have been following a number of discussions and question across my social media sites during my quality Covid-time; and, this question often comes up: Why do genealogy? Genealogy is frustrating. For many, this is a very serious conundrum. I certainly can remember my early frustrations… Today, I have a response to those observations/ questions. I have been at ‘this game’ for more than 20 years. I have inherited brick walls (real brick walls) some that stood the test of 40 years worth of ‘unsuccessful’ work ‘breaching’. In many cases, I have breached the abyss. But the real question is: what insights have I gained? Let me begin by saying,…

  • Old Books
    ManyRoads,  Search Tricks & Tips

    Library Updates

    I am pleased to announce that ManyRoads now provides much easier access to our Free (no-cost) European resource source materials. Convenient links to the materials are not only accessible below in this document but also are available from our banner menu as European Libraries under the “Libraries” menu link. Our European Library currently contains some 1500 European Genealogical and Historical texts including the following historical/ genealogical research topics: Amish-Mennonite Austria-Hungary England Huguenots Jews of Europe Middle Ages Poland Prussia-Germany Roma & Sinti Scandinavia Switzerland Wales  

  • Timbuktu-manuscripts-astronomy-tables
    ManyRoads

    Finding “hidden” genealogy clues

    Nearly 9 years a go, I wrote a small set of posts on the topic of finding genealogy information in unlikely sources. I have removed those articles from ManyRoads and written this lengthy revision as a replacement. I thought it was about time for me to share what I have learned since then. Not surprisingly genealogy data and clues are where you find them. However, they are not always located where you think the event(s) took place nor even where you might believe they should be. Most of the time genealogists immersed in hunting for clues tend follow “those tried and true” paths of searching the Internet. Many will limit…

  • Retro Microphone Vintage Antique Old Microphone
    Podcasts

    ManyRoads Genealogy Podcasts: Coming soon!

    ManyRoads is pleased to announce that, at long last, we have begun the recording of our Genealogy Podcast series. The ManyRoads Genealogy podcasts will be co-hosted by yours truly (Mark Rabideau) and Dawn Harvey.  Our podcast productions are recorded at the magnificent film  & recording studio provided by the Douglas County libraries in Parker, Colorado.  Our initial episodes are ‘digitized’ and in ‘final’ production. We hope to have many more underway by the end of February 2019. We are not quite certain when ‘exactly’ our podcasts will be publish or where. Identifying those details is ‘in process’.  Be assured, we will provide information and pointers to make certain you are…

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  • Kursalon Stadtpark Wien 1900
    ManyRoads

    January 2019: What’s new on GenTeam (Austrian Genealogy)

    Posting of Felix Gundacker, Prof. Ing. Felix Gundacker email dated 20 Jan 2019 (reformatted for WordPress by ManyRoads). GenTeam.eu  –    530,000 new records online Vienna, January 20, 2019 What’s new on GenTeam About this update: Now approximately 19.4 million records online! Updated search list of looted publications of the Collection IKG Military: Austro-Hungarian casualty lists 1914-1919 Already 1.3 million records online Diocese of Passau: 4,3 Million records online Vienna: Roman Catholic baptisms Vienna: Roman Catholic marriages Vienna: Roman Catholic burials Vienna: Civil marriages 1919-1920 Indices of Roman Catholic church registers for Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol and Bohemia Dear researchers, About this update With this update, GenTeam’s 44,500 registered users…

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  • ManyRoads

    New site security measures

    Be advised that ManyRoads/ eirenicon llc web site development and management has placed reCaptcha “are you a human” user verification on all websites’ points of access/entry including:   Login Pages Comments Contact Pages Forms etc. Hopefully these small inconveniences (ticking a check box) will ensure our sites are less attractive to brute force attackers. Over the past several weeks, we have received in excess of 500 such attacks. For those who may be unfamiliar, here are some links describing the problem and implemented reCaptcha solution: Brute Force Attack reCaptcha

  • Douglas County Resources
    Tips & Opinions,  Tools

    Amazing and unexpected resources

    I suppose many of you, like me, live in Communities offering library services.  Also probably like me, you have not really thought of your local library when you are stumped for new affordable (meaning Free) Genealogy Research resources. Well this week while helping take care of my grandsons by watching riveting episodes of Disney Kids shows and web surfing, I stumbled upon a previously unvisited Douglas County Library webpage. By that I mean, I never had landed on that page before. You would think that a web link entitled Research might have ‘jumped out at me’ before, but it never did. Or if it did, I don’t remember having seen…

  • EU Flag
    ManyRoads

    GDPR Compliance

    Effective today (25 May 2018), ManyRoads is in compliance with the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 law implemented 25 May 2018. Quoting from Wikipedia: The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union and the European Economic Area. It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU and EEA. The GDPR aims primarily to give control to citizens and residents over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU. ManyRoads’ collection of private data is…

  • Marienburg Alte Haüser an der Nogat
    ManyRoads

    ManyRoads’ Galleries- update

      I am pleased to announce that the ManyRoads Public Galleries (Images) have been reformatted, reorganized, and expanded. There are some 2000 images in our public galleries. Please be advised that images may take ‘awhile’ to load. Delays can result from slow Internet connections accessing the ManyRoads Image data files (on DropBox) as well as your GPU (graphics processor unit) and a myriad of other factors. Of most general interest are the following image galleries: Ehemalige deutsche Gebieten  ~Former German Regions Flucht und Vertreibung (post WW2 Expulsions of Germans from the East) East & West Prussia (WW2-era) Elbing- Elbląg Preußische Dörfer/ Städte – Prussian Communities Be advised we are always…

  • Alex Pickering- Vintage Moving Van
    ManyRoads

    ManyRoads has relocated….

      For those of you who rely on ManyRoads, I am pleased to announce we have moved to a new, more expensive, cloud based server. Theoretically everything should work as it has in the past, albeit a bit more ‘energetically’. Please test the site, to see if you are able to use it as you did in the past. If you do use the site, I would greatly appreciate hearing about any problems you might encountered. Please report any difficulties via our contact page or via email (genealogy@many-roads.com).

  • famicity
    ManyRoads

    Famicity reviews ManyRoads

    Today, Erin Harris of famicity posted a nice review of ManyRoads on their blog. The review is most appreciated.  You may view the entire review here. If you are unfamiliar with famicity, you can learn about them on their website. We, at ManyRoads, greatly appreciate the effort and time Erin Harris and the folks at famicity put into developing and publishing this work. We are also “pretty proud” of what they have had to say.  

  • Yellow star- Jude-Jew
    ManyRoads,  Shoah

    Shoah Statistics

    ManyRoads is extremely pleased to announce the pre-release of our new Shoah Statistics website. ShoahStatistics is ManyRoads’ largest, most historically significant, genealogical work effort and publication, to date. The main focus of ShoahStatistics.com is the systematic, disciplined compilation of the statistics (and source documentation) of the German Jewish population (as well as the other victims of National Socialism) at the time of national socialism. ShoahStatistics is in a pre-release state (today) and remains a work in progress. Our new site is not finished; however, I do believe that we have enough primary source Holocaust content online to be useful. Rest assured more content is on its way. To view the…

  • Vintage Radio
    Site

    Subscriber Feature(s)

    With the onset (advent?) of 2018, ManyRoads is pleased to announce that we are introducing our first special Subscriber features: The ManyRoads’ Discussion Forum This Moderated Discussion Forum allows ManyRoads subscribers to discuss topics related to the those covered on ManyRoads. Participants may freely add topics/subjects they wish to discuss or learn about and respond to those already ‘active’. I am  also, able to create additional Forum Areas as Subscribers feel they are needed. Just let me know what you might want; and, if the proposed Area fits on ManyRoads, I will add it. To access the Forum, you simply need to be logged in on your ManyRoads account and then…

  • books
    ManyRoads

    Subscriptions, popups, and more

      Effective 19 December 2017, ManyRoads offers a new membership subscription plan. Site users who subscribe to ManyRoads will not only be assisting us afford our servers, conduct our research and afford hosting development & management costs, but they will receive the added benefit of enjoying pop-up free use of our site. ManyRoads users who elect to remain on the current “Free plan” will begin to receive popups (begging for financial assistance) on select web pages. We will keep our Blog posts “popup free” for as long as we are able. If you believe you should receive pop-up free access to ManyRoads, and you can demonstrate that you perform Pro…

  • Irina-translations
    Services

    Better, broader, ManyRoads’ language translation support

      I am very happy to announce that we have established a partnership with Irina Yanushkevich. Irina is a professional translator; but being retired now, she feels bored “doing nothing.”  In order to busy herself by helping others, she has most graciously offered to help ManyRoads clients/ readers as a translator, translating vital records. Briefly, her credentials are: Retired University Professor, Ph.D. Former-Head of the Linguistics department Former-Director of the Translator/Interpreter Training Program Irina’s translation skills include: Russian to English – fluent Russian or English to German – basic (sufficient for genealogical documents) Polish into English or German – basic (sufficient for genealogical documents) Irina has experience in helping several genealogical…

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  • Research
    ManyRoads,  Tools

    ManyRoads Magazine (Flipboard)

    View my Flipboard Magazine. ManyRoads is pleased to announce the creation of a new online magazine we have hosted on and built using Flipboard. The initial release of the magazine was published yesterday with a bank of some 20 recent published online articles covering topics of genealogical and historical interest. Our curated articles should remain online and available for quite a long time, as is the case with most online magazine publications. It is my intent regularly update the magazine (daily or so). We’ll see how good I am at it. As with almost everything on ManyRoads there is no charge for our magazine. It is accessible directly via html…

  • Vintage School Room
    ManyRoads

    Library Update!

    Do you want to learn more about where and when your ancestors lived? Are you looking to uncover ‘lost family histories’? Would like to see where your ancestors lived? Do you want to hear and see what they may have seen and heard? If  you want to find more than birth, marriage, and death information, our libraries are a good place to begin that quest. I have spent more than ten years gathering the images, sounds, texts, and films housed in the ManyRoads’ libraries. As of this writing, our holdings have reached  ‘new levels’.  Currently, our libraries house: ~11,000 Texts, Books, Documents ~1500 Photos & Images ~100 Videos & Audios…

  • Research
    Services

    ManyRoads’ Libraries and Research Support- UPDATE

    ManyRoads is pleased to announce a considerable expansion in our available, and reserved, libraries. These include not only our online and offline text libraries, and German address books, but also, our cartographic and video libraries. By the beginning of May 2017, our libraries will contain some: 10,000 genealogical and regional history books, as well as old German address books Materials in English, German, and French, spanning Europe and North America. Most of our digitized texts were originally published in the 1600 to mid-1900s. 500+ maps in our Cartographic areas (from about 800- 2000) 1200+ ‘historical’ photographic images (mostly from 1900- 1950) 100+ vintage WW1-WW2 era videos (mostly from the 1910 to…

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  • ManyRoads

    Clyde Rabideau 1936-2017

    I am glad to have known and worked with Clyde M. Rabideau Sr., the best genealogist and historian the Robidoux family has ever known. His genealogical efforts, love of family, and heritage are an inspiration. He will be missed, but his work will live on.

  • German Genealogy Pointers,  Polish Genealogy,  Services

    Finding Genealogy Data in Central & Eastern Europe

    Lately, I have received a significant number of inquiries regarding how to ‘best’ approach the conduct of German- Prussian- Polish- Shoah research. The questions I have received point to a number of common questions, without specifically re-stating the questions, I will detail their responses here: I understand that English-speakers want European Records written and searchable in English. However… I am obligated to point out that our European ancestors may have spoken and written in languages other than English; and so… their records will ‘most likely’ be in their native languages (or perhaps Latin, Hebrew). As for genealogy and/or data search functions, I personally do not totally trust or rely on…

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  • Tools

    Clonezilla & GPartEd- your disks, your data

      If you use computers, there are times when certain rather daunting maintenance and recovery tasks need to be ‘undertaken’.  If you are like me, you want these tasks to be easy, straightforward, and ‘free’.  You also want the ‘tools’ you use to work regardless of the operating system installed on your PC/ CPU. I can’t guarantee that these tools will work in every situation, but they will work in most. They are also available to you at no-cost. The tools in this posting include: GPartEd: to partition and/or resize disks Clonezilla: to clone your PC environment GPartEd GPartEd is a free partition editor for graphically managing your disk partitions.…

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  • Tools

    Improve Internet Research Browsing & Safety

    Are you a person who worries about your browsing security, privacy, etc.? If you are, perhaps this post will be helpful. If your computing platform will allow, the following tools will certainly make you more secure and reduce the invasiveness of the sites you visit/ research. The advice that follows is geared toward those using Chrome (Chromium) & Firefox derivative browsers (I do not know if they will work with, or are even available on, other platforms). If you are worried about your browsing security/ privacy (and cookies are not the issue), you might benefit from installing HTTPS Everywhere.  To paraphrase their site: HTTPS Everywhere enables sites’ HTTPS protection which…

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  • Services

    LinkedIn Groups- update

    Due to the new LinkedIn format and its horribly cumbersome and time consuming Group Management interface, I will no longer review status of my genelogy groups on a daily basis. Given the lack of activity in those groups, I plan to undertake management tasks only when I add new shareable materials. It is my long term intent to find a more friendly (technically speaking) location to host my genealogy groups. In the event I am unable to uncover a more friendly and free hosting location, I will discontinue the groups entirely. The Groups involved include: Ethnic German Genealogy Genealogy Guild Généalogie Quebecois Genealogy Polish- Prussian Genealogy – Polski- Prusy Genealogia…

  • Expulsion - Vertriebenen,  German Genealogy Pointers,  ManyRoads,  Polish Genealogy

    70 years on…

    As everyone most certainly knows, this year is 2015. 7 May 2015 marks the official surrender date of German forces, some 70 years ago.For those who focus on 1945 as the end of WW2 in Europe, it was.  Sadly, 1945 was not just an ending; it was also the beginning of the total destruction and removal of a ~600 year old way of life, a culture, and the homeland for millions of Eastern Germans.  In the years following 1945, some 12 to 14 million people were forcibly removed from their homes and expelled from the recently surrendered German Eastern provinces. To place these events into a reasonably balanced historical context,…

  • ManyRoads

    Merry Christmas

      This year I thought we’d wish all of our readers a very Merry Christmas in the languages spoken by the Rabideaus and Hensses over the years.  I am certain I will have missed one or two Languages or Dialects, but nonetheless, here goes:     Merry Christmas (English) Frohe Weihnachten (German, Swiss German) God Jul (Swedish, Norwegian) Joyeux Noël (French, Quebecois) Vrolijk Kerstfeest (Dutch) Linksmų KalÄ—dų (Lithuanian) WesoÅ‚ych ÅšwiÄ…t (Polish)    

  • ManyRoads

    A New Genealogy Technology, Tips & Tricks Site

    Have you ever wished there was a place to get and give answers as they relate to using technology in support of your genealogical and historical research efforts? Do you have a need to protect, share, communicate genealogical and historical information with family? Clients? Are you curious about what technological approaches might be working for others? Might you want to share your “hard won” learnings with others? If you are interested in getting free Technology Tips & Tricks (for your Genealogical & Historical Research endeavors) and you are interested in helping us (GenerousGenealogists) get “the ball rolling” on just such a resource, please visit: Genealogy Technology, Tips & Tricks site…

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  • ManyRoads

    ManyRoads Libraries and Images Status Update

    Our image galleries and Cartographic resources are, once again, online. Almost everything (images and maps) is available via our current menu system. As always, all of our images and maps remain free. All of our document libraries have been converted to our new system, are online, and available. (All but three of our documents are free.) Our family trees are also online. (Note: Not all of our family trees are available; several remain private. Our public trees are available and are free.) A few major items remain in our conversion efforts including: Posts and Pages on our Main site still contain broken image links, These are in almost all cases…

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  • ManyRoads

    The 200,000th visit

    We are extremely pleased to report that last night (3 June 2012) ManyRoads received its 200,000th visitor. We know that does not put us in anything like “a high traffic mode”. But, we are pleased to have gathered and perhaps even sustained a loyal readership. Thank you very much for visiting our site; we look forward to your continued and on-going presence.  Obviously, we are extremely pleased that 200,00 visitors have stopped by.  We will continue to do our best to provide information and knowledge as we accumulate it. As always do not hesitate to contact us with your comments or requests for information and/or pointers.  Your interaction is always…

  • ManyRoads

    SOPA/PIPA protest

    ManyRoads will join the Internet protest on 18 January 2012 against the unreasonable and un-American PIPA/SOPA legislation & actions before the US Congress. Hopefully someday the United States will, once again, appreciate and respect freedom of speech.

  • Technology & Tools,  Tools

    Finding Genealogy Software (more) pointers…

    In keeping with the theme of my previous posting, here are some additional pointers to genealogy software and software reviews. Be aware that none of the listings are complete, nor do they over-lap to any significant amount. Each list is “somewhat” to “a lot” unique.  Additionally you should note, not all the listings or reviews have been “conducted” or “written up” by software professionals or genealogists. Many are simply a compendium of personal opinions or available happenstance; but that does not mean they are not helpful or informative. In total the articles should paint a reasonably complete portrait of options and considerations. The bottom line is, if you are in…

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  • ManyRoads,  Technology & Tools,  Tools

    When considering new Genealogy Software…

    As most of our readers know, I belong to numerous on-line forums and discussion threads.  Lately there have been numerous requests for assistance in the selection of Genealogy software. Hopefully this post will provide some help in that vein while making the responses obtained via email from the discussion forums both more meaningful and valuable. The first thing to be aware of when you ask for help in picking software is that you will get your respondents biases along with their recommendations, even if they don’t mean to provide you their biases. Software after all is a reflection of both its users and authors. To help you sort through that…

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  • Technology & Tools,  Tools

    Presenting family genealogies on the web

    Presenting readable, genealogical information, data, and stories is a complex challenge.  It seems to me that people’s lives ought to be expressed as more than family trees, dates, and lineages.  I have been struggling with this problem for quite a while.  Perhaps you have as well. Over the years, I have noticed a few ‘special’ difficulties in making this type of information, useful, accessible, easy to find not to mention human.  The major problem areas, for me, have centered around the following: genealogical data & stories can run deep & wide (they may, and often do, involve a lot of data from many locations, sources, and media) genealogical data/ information…

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  • Help Wanted,  Senger

    Auguste Alvina Caroline Kunz

    It was another one of those days a genealogist only dreams of… one, when a huge brick wall comes tumbling down. Today my daughter and I were reading through our latest bunch of 11 Family History Center tapes, hoping to eek out a simple clue regarding our Prussian German forebears. We had already viewed 9 tapes when on our 9th tape we saw a birth/baptism record for Eduard Ferdinand Kunz.  The name Ferdinand Kunz had appeared as being in attendance at my great aunt (Tante) Ella’s baptism.  Did we have the right family? As readers of ManyRoads may already know, Auguste Kunz (my Uhr-Oma) on my grandmother’s line has been…

  • 27 Jan 1945 - Survivors of Auschwitz are shown during the first hours of the concentration camp's liberation by soldiers of the Soviet army, January 27, 1945. Manfred Pohl, a Deutsche Bank historian, said February 4 that Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank AG, lent funds to firms involved in the building of the World War Two camp. An estimated 1.5 million people were killed in the camp during World War Two. Photo by B. Fishman-Corbis-Bettmann REUTERS
    German Genealogy Pointers,  Tools

    The Former German Provinces & Missing Persons Search

    If you, like me, research and search for family through the area of West Prussia (Westpreussen)- East Prussia (Ostpreussen) and Pomerania (Pommern), these sites will be of interest.  I have also listed all these sites on the links page of ManyRoads. (Please Note! the links to external webpages are in the headers themselves and they appear before the individual site descriptions, when one exists.) If you are looking to find information on missing relatives from the Second World War, these sites are most helpful: DRK-Suchdienst (German Red Cross Tracing Service) The German Red Cross Tracing Service has always been on the side of those in need and by taking this…

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  • ManyRoads,  Technology & Tools

    Sharing Notes, Tasks, Todos

    Keeping notes, reminders and tasks synchronized as I move from place to place has been a real dilemma for me.  Not surprisingly, I really need a place to take notes, add reminders when I am browsing the web or reading my email.  I also need these notes, reminders, todos to be available wherever I am and on whichever PC I use. Recently, I found what seems to me to be a good solution.  Perfect no, good, yes!  This solution involves the use of several free, open source tools: ThunderBird (email system of choice) FireFox (internet browser of choice) ReminderFox (todo list and reminder system) and one file synchronization (Cloud) toolset:…

  • Public Speaking,  Quebec Genealogy Pointers

    Quebec Genealogical Tutorial

    I will be presenting a tutorial on conducting Quebec- Francophone Genealogy Research, September 10, 2011 at the: Parker Colorado Genealogical Society Stroh Ranch Fire Station 19310 Stroh Ranch Road Parker, Colorado 10 September 2011 Business Meeting: 1:30pm – 2pm Speaker: 2pm – 3:30pm I have created the following materials for use in the session for both: advance preparation (awareness) –as well as– for the session itself. The materials will form the basis of our discussion and an advanced reading will ensure that we can have a more in-depth set of discussions and mentoring activities. I know that it is unusual to assign homework for a session but hopefully folks will…

  • Lower (Bas) Canada Map
    Public Speaking,  Quebec Genealogy Pointers

    Quebec Historical Documents & Newspapers- Quebec Research Tip #3

    Here are lists of Quebec-related Online Historical Documents and Newspapers I have come across while performing data gathering searches. Please let me know of others as you stumble upon them, so I may add them to the list here. Getting Started with Quebec Research (from FamilySearch) Links to articles on getting started with Quebec research. Step-by-Step Quebec, Canada Research How to Locate Your Ancestor in Canada How to Recognize your Canadian Ancestor Name Variations in Canadian Indexes and Records Quebec Search Strategies Canada Online Genealogy Records Quebec Research Outline – Contains out-of-date links Mary’s Genealogy Treasures – Quebec research resources Originis – Stories of parishes, baptisms directories, marriages and burials, census, clergy biography…

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  • Public Speaking,  Quebec Genealogy Pointers

    French Canadian Source Materials- Quebec Research Tip #2

    Canada has some of the world’s best documented family history information.  This is especially true for Roman Catholic French Canadians.  They were wonderful record keepers and the materials have been excellently preserved. Over the years I have had the great good fortune of finding a number of small publishers/ booksellers who have, in their own ways, been most helpful.  I hope you find some of these links and pointers useful in your New York and Quebec research. Quintin Publications– Quintin Publications provides a wide array of professional genealogical research texts and document collections. Most of their texts focus on French Canada although they also publish materials from the British Isles…

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  • Public Speaking,  Quebec Genealogy Pointers

    French Canadian Genealogy Searches- Quebec Research Tip #1

    Finding “French Canadian” North American ‘relatives’ can be quite a challenge. My searches most often lead me to southernmost Quebec (Bas Canada, near La Prairie and Lacolle areas) as well as to Northern New York (specifically Clinton County, NY).  It seems that is the general area where most of my French-speaking forebears lived (from 1780- 1925); on occasion they manage to spill into the Quebec or Montreal areas, but that is almost always in the years before 1780.  As you might know, the area I search is rather small geographically, as well as from a population perspective. But my observation has been, even though folks did not move around very…

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  • Help Wanted,  ManyRoads

    Clyde Ross- photos found

    If you know of anyone related to and/or seeking images of a young Clyde Ross born in Cambridge Illinois, USA in the year 1896, we have 5 original photos of Clyde. The photos show Clyde at the ages of 3 months through 7 years (approx.). We found these wonderful photos in an antique store in Denver and simply could not let the collection be broken up any more than it already had been.  Besides, the images of Clyde growing up simply charmed us.           If you are related to and are seeking images of Clyde, we’d love to send digital copies of Clyde’s photos back to…

  • Search Tricks & Tips,  Technology & Tools,  Tools

    Polish Archives

    For those interested in such things, a number of ‘online’ Polish Archives have recently come to my attention.  They include: Archiwa Panstwowe- State Archive in Poznan Archiwum Archidiecezjalne w Poznaniu (Archidiocese of Poznan Archive) Genealogical Society of Great Poland “Gniazdo” Although many of these site pages offer English translations, I find the translated documents to be only marginally easier to use than the Polish original pages (and my Polish is limited to the ever present and marginally accurate Google Translate). Nonetheless, these archives look to be a very positive resource and representative of a very hopeful trend! Should you know of other online Polish Archives you believe we should share,…