March 29, 2009
TRACING OUR
ROOTS
The Great Library of Alexandria Rises from the Ashes
Brenda Kellow
The Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt disappeared. Whether or not it was by
earthquakes, fire, war or the ravages of time is not as important as the
material held there. It could answer many of the questions theologians and
archeologists have pondered for years. It is lost now and we cannot go back in
time to reconstruct the building or its 700,000 manuscripts.
Alexander the Great founded it and it became one of the seven wonders of the
ancient world. What happened to it? What ancient texts did it house? Will the
new library once again rival the ancient original? Only time will tell.
The building housing the “Wayback Machine,” as it is sometimes referred, is a
ten-story cylinder with one-third of it built below sea level. Its sole
purpose is to house objects that
internet threatens to make obsolete. “Bibliotheca Alexandrina” is its
official name. The site is near if not on the site of the ancient library.
The official announcement should come about by the end of March. The purpose
of the data center is to hold millions of books, about two petabytes of
information, and about 85 billion Web pages amounting to three petabytes of data
dating back to 1996. Certainly, it has the potential of becoming a great library
attracting visitors from all over the world. We can only hope the collected
material off the Internet will include genealogical material. Read more about
it, its holdings, museums, culture centers and such at
www.bibalex.org/English/index.aspx.
MICHIGAN DEATH RECORDS ONLINE: Michigan death certificates are online for
the years 1897 to 1920. The years 1915 to 1920 are particularly significant for
the information it contains was not previously available online. See more on
these death records at
http://seekingmichigan.org/look/2009/03/16/million-record-march.
1881 SCOTLAND CENSUS ONLINE: To take advantage of the census and the many other
offerings visit the site at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/.
LOST COUSINS SITE: The Lost Cousins site has a new look. If you need
genealogical help or a site for all genealogists, go
to
http://lostcousins.com/.
FOR IRISH RESEARCHERS:
Enjoy free digital access to The Irish Times, 1859-2009 until May 4,
2009. They are allowing free access to the newspaper’s digital archives going
back to March 29, 1859 in celebration of their
150th year in circulation.
http://nyirishhistory.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/free-digital-access-to-the-irish-times-1859-2009.
ARPHAX RELEASED COLLIN COUNTY MAPS: Arphax, publishers of
The
Family Maps series of Land Patent Books and the Texas Land Survey
Maps series
published county
by county, state by state, for original settlers has just released the
land book for Collin County. This book’s index shows the original settlers
whose purchases appear
in the
Texas General Land Office database at
www.glo.state.tx.us/archives/landgrant.html.
These maps
are one-of-a-kind publication of
customized maps
and books created by attorney, software engineer, and family historian, Gregory
A. Boyd. Through his efforts, you can locate your ancestor’s Federal or
Texas land purchases and learn the names of the neighbors simply by using the
index to guide you to a map of these first landowners. For a listing of other
states in the series, visit the site at www.arphax.com.
BEGINNING
GENEALOGY: Tracy Luscombe, genealogy librarian, will speak on beginning
genealogy on April 25 at the McKinney Library in McKinney, 10:15 a.m. until
11:45. There is no preregistration, fee, or donation requested or required.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree
in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her
family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist
and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunions announcements, books
to review, and genealogy queries to: TraceRts@verizon.net.
