Free Access to Footnote.com's Historical Newspaper Collection

Footnote.com is allowing free access to its entire four million page historical newspaper collection for the month of May.

For the newspaper collection: Click Here.

For Footnote.com's front page: Click Here.

Award of Distinction

The Award of Distinction was presented by Marvin Templin of the East Tennessee Historical Society Staff to MHS President Jack Goins on 4 May 2010 for leading a volunteer effort to establish the Hawkins County Archives by raising funds to purchase supplies, enlisting and training a group of volunteers to follow professional standards in organizing and cleaning records and creating databases, with 35,000 contributed volunteer hours.

For pictures of the event: Click Here.

An Amazing DNA Story

DNA from letters home helps ID Pearl Harbor casualty

By William Cole, Honolulu Advertiser, April 13, 2010

Before he died at Pearl Harbor, less than a month after turning 18, Gerald Lehman sent home to Michigan letters that his mother came to treasure.

In them, the teen talked about going through Navy training in Great Lakes, Ill. — falling out of his sleeping hammock once — and how much he liked his new woolen uniform.

In graceful penmanship, he asked about the family dog, Duke; wrote about waiting to ship out from California on the battleship USS Oklahoma; and seeing the mountains and rainbows of Oahu from the doomed ship.

Unknowingly, Lehman sent home to those who loved him something else, something that wouldn't be useful until decades later: his own DNA.

Sixty-eight years after he was killed on Dec. 7, 1941, DNA lifted from the envelopes Lehman had licked helped the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command positively identify the young sailor's remains.

For the rest of the story: Click Here.

Note: Properly used, DNA testing can be a powerful adjunct to traditional genealogical methods. However, you must beware of hucksters promising more than DNA testing can possibly deliver. In particular, for the purposes of this blog, there is no uniquely Melungeon DNA and hence no DNA test for Melungeon ancestry. The only way in which DNA testing might prove Melungeon ancestry is by proving actual descent from a historically documented Melungeon.

MHS President Wins Award

Today, MHS President Jack Goins will receive the East Tennessee Historical Society's Award of Distinction for his work as Hawkins County Archivist. Jack will receive the award at tonight's Annual Meeting of the Membership, which convenes at 5:30 PM at the East Tennessee History Building, 601 South Gay Street, Knoxville, Tennessee.

Congratulations Jack!!!

FarmilySearch.org

One of the greatest gifts to the genealogical world comes from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which microfilmed thousands of local and state records it loans out to research centers around the world.

Other tools available from the church Web site, www.familysearch.org, are worth using, but researchers must approach with caution and closely scrutinize what they find.

To go to familysearch.org: Click Here.

But to first read an important cautionary essay: Click Here.

Note: The cautions suggested in the essay apply not just to FamilySearch.org but to all web sites which collect unverified genealogical information. Once erroneous or unproven data is entered in such sites it is impossible to get it corrected. As always, there is no substitute for documentation.

Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community

Of Gatlinburg, Tennessee

The largest group of independent artisans in North America. This historic 8-mile loop has been designated a Tennessee Heritage Arts & Crafts Trail. Established in 1937, these artisans whittle, paint, sew, cast, weave and carve to create original collectibles such as candles, baskets, quilts, brooms, pottery, jewelry, dolls, ceramics, scrimshaw, silver smithing, leather, stained glass, wearable fashions, fine photography, frameable art, oils and watercolors, also lodging, restaurants, cafés, tea room, soda fountain and candy shops. Most shops are open year round, seven days a week.

Sometime around 1937, The Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community, known as the Glades, got its start. John Cowden and several other craftsmen decided they'd stay home and invite the tourists to come out to see them. After years of working the streets of downtown Gatlinburg, with long hours and worn out feet, John and his friends tried something radical and just stayed home. They wanted to be near the source where their tools and supplies were, they just wanted to stay home and work... and that's just what they did. As the visitors started coming, other craftsmen and artists joined in. Opening workshops, studios, and galleries most of them right alongside their homes or even inside them.

For seventy years now people have been discovering one of Gatlinburg's best kept secrets, located just 3 miles from the hustle and bustle of the downtown city limits of Gatlinburg. See for yourself, come visit the largest group of independent artists and craftsmen in America right here in Gatlinburg. With over 120 artists and craftsmen located in a convenient 8 mile loop road all with easy free parking right outside their doors. This historic arts and crafts area has been designated a Tennessee Heritage Arts & Crafts Trail.

For much more information: Click Here.

Historic Rugby, Tennessee

Victorian England in the Tennessee Cumberlands

Time stands still at Rugby, Tennessee - the restored Victorian village founded in 1880 by British author and social reformer, Thomas Hughes. It was to be a cooperative, class-free, agricultural community for younger sons of English gentry and others wishing to start life anew in America. At its peak in the mid-1880s, some 300 people lived in the colony. More than 65 buildings of Victorian design graced the townscape on East Tennessee's beautiful Cumberland Plateau.

This would-be Utopia survives today as both a living community and a fascinating public historic site, unspoiled by modern development. Twenty original buildings still stand, nestled between the Big South Fork National Recreation Area and the Rugby State Natural Area, surrounded by rugged river gorges and historic trails. Historic Rugby has been open to the public since 1966 and is nationally recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and many others as one of the most authentically restored and preserved communities in America.

Upcoming Event:

36th Annual Festival of British & Appalachian Culture

May 15 & 16 - 10:00 am

All Day Saturday & Sunday - Continuous British Isles & Appalachian Music & Dancing Traditional Arts & Crafts..... Folk Demonstrating & Selling Their Work..... Storytelling.....Historic Building Tours....Delicious Food

For more on Historic Rugby: Click Here.