AncestorEbooks Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr’s Peaceful March on Washington, DC

“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression & violence." --- Martin Luther King Jr

AncestorEbooks.com celebrates and remembers 28 August 1963, when Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr led the March (of over 250,000 people) on Washington DC.

The nature of the march was illustrated by a white man in clerical garb, carrying a placard with these words: "We march together – Protestants, Catholics, Jews – for the dignity and brotherhood of all men under God."

Reverend King's speech was a call to action for African-Americans & given 100 years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and where, according to his words, "One hundred years later the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst a vast ocean of material prosperity."

Reverend King believed that peaceful protests, not violence, were the way to fighting injustice and inequality. [archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf] He said, "In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." 
"We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline." 

Reverend King stated, "We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."


Reverend King spoke of his dream for America, "... I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

"Reverend King's speech has touched the hearts of millions," says Gayla Mendenhall of AncestorEbooks. "His words, though aimed at the idea of equal rights, have much farther reaches than that. He taught to not drink 'from the cup of bitterness and hatred' and that despite what we desire, we should not let hatred and anger rule our lives. The lessons he taught were to fight peacefully, and to work together, for the betterment of humanity."

Dr. King believed in the philosophy of "The Beloved Community," not an idealized society in which life is perfect, but where a critical mass of people were all committed to nonviolence. [thekingcenter.org/king-philosophy]


Reverend King understood that conflict was a part of life, but he also believed that a resolution could be achieved peacefully as long as they were committed to nonviolence and cooperation. His dream didn’t end with freedom for only his own people, but for all to be “free at last.”

In the closing words of his moving speech to over 250,000 men, women and children, King said, “When we allow freedom to ring - when we let it ring - from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last.'"

"The photographs of peaceful protests being met with vicious attacks, are heart wrenching," states Mrs Mendenhall. "However, these brave men and women understood that if they reacted in anger and hatred there would be an increasing in violence. Reverend King knew, that if Civil Rights were to be achieved, nonviolent action was the only way.  Until the day of his assassination, King preached for nonviolence. Will anyone ever be truly “free at last” as long as we are shackled by the anger and bitterness that hold us all in bondage?"

America’s leaders, from the Signers of our Constitution, to Presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize, Martin Luther King Jr. have dedicated their lives to this free nation. It is now our duty to declare emphatically, as did Reverend King, "I have a dream that my... children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character."

AncestorEbooks Introduces the 2013 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference's Most Noteworthy Speakers

AncestorEbooks introduces a few of the speakers for "The Federation of Genealogical Societies' 2013 Conference" being held in Fort Wayne, IN from August 21 - 24, where, ‘Anyone with an interest in family history is invited.’ [fgs.org/cpage.php?pt=43] Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana and Allen County Public Library are the hosts for this event. [bit.ly/16X5Yp3]

This year's theme, "journey.through.generations", is being sponsored by FamilySearch.org and findmypast.com. There are classes available to appeal to a wide variety of participants. [bit.ly/16X5Yp3]

There will be several featured speakers such as Kris Rzepczynski who is the Senior Archivist at Archives of Michigan and Elain Kuhn, Kentucky History Services Coordinator from Kenton County Public Library. Rzepczynski will be speaking about "Collaboration is Not Just a Buzz Word: Building and Preserving Your Collections" while Ms. Kuhn will be speaking on the topic of "Working with Local Organizations and Their Records." [bit.ly/16X5Yp3]

The special guest presenter, Cyndi Ingle Howells, is the creator of the well known Cyndi's List website, which has provided links to genealogical resources for over fifteen years. Howells will be speaking about making sure a society's website has a strong presence online for members and prospective new members. [bit.ly/16X5Yp3]

The Keynote Speaker, Richard Aquila, is a professor of history specializing in US social and cultural history, in particular the American West, American Indians, popular culture, and recent America. Mr. Aquila topics will be "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixty: The Roots of Rock & Roll and 1950s America." Elvis Presley, swaying his hips, Jerry Lee Lewis playing the piano, Little Richard Screaming and Shouting, and other stories that photographs just don't do justice.

"A diverse conference program offers genealogists of all levels an opportunity to learn from some of the nation's leading genealogists and local subject experts," writes D. Joshua Taylor, FGS President. "Add social activities and a bustling exhibit hall, and the FGS Conference is the place to be for genealogists in August 2013. For those eager to research, ACPL [Allen County Public Library] holds one of the nation's largest genealogical research collections and includes a dedicated staff ready to help you tackle your family tree."

Gayla Mendenhall of says, "Conferences and gatherings such as the Federation of Genealogical Societies' 2013 Conference are invaluable for learning and sharing ideas. The ways we share genealogical material can often be improved by using new technologies, and the more we share, the better our results will be. We here at AncestorEbooks AncestorEbooks.com are committed to sharing ideas, information, and stories."

What happened on the last Who Do You Think You Are?

Episode #4: Zooey Deschanel

From ancestry.com/cs/us/who-do-you-think-you-are:

Self-proclaimed “gung-ho” feminist Zooey Deschanel had always heard that her spitfire grandmother Ann Orr came from a long line of Quakers and abolitionists. Now she wants to know the facts. 

A visit with her parents provides Zooey with her first clue: the name of her great-great-grandmother, Martha Pownall, and confirmation that the Pownalls had ties to the antislavery movement.

Zooey heads to the Pownalls’ home state of Pennsylvania, a hotbed of abolitionism in the mid-1800s, to meet with a Quaker historian who has found her 5x great-grandparents, Elinor and Thomas Henderson, in Lancaster County. Elinor was a Quaker, but Thomas was not. However, Zooey learns that Quakers were encouraged to marry for love and follow their own convictions.

To learn more about the pair — and their daughter Sarah, a name Zooey’s grandmother had mentioned — Zooey searches Ancestry.com. And what she discovers in the 1800 Pennsylvania State Septennial Census is shocking: Thomas owned a slave.

Disappointed, Zooey now has more questions than answers. If Thomas owned a slave, how did his descendants end up involved in abolition?

Click here to see the full episode on TLC.com

Inbreeding: Good, Bad and Weird Happening Now

There are more and more 'new' ideas and thoughts about genes and inbreeding than ever this century that state inbreeding is not necessarily bad... Of course like the following written by Brian Reeder they are speaking of flowers and chickens. My concern is how this thinking bleeds into the realm of human genetics.

"The majority of serious genetic disorders are recessive, which means that an individual must inherit two copies of the abnormal gene (one from each parent) for the disorder to be expressed.

It is much more likely that both parents will carry the same recessive gene if the parents are related. The risk of a serious disease or malformation in a child of such a union is about 1 in 20. However, among married first cousins, the risk increases to about 1 in 11. If the couple are first-degree relatives, the risk is 1 in 2.

Cultural taboos are only loosely related to risk. The marriage of double-first cousins is just as risky (from a genetic standpoint) as it is in the marriage of a half-sister and a half-brother. However, in most places, the former is legal and the latter is not." Brian Reeder

A youtube video of u2bheavenbound, a Christian-based news agency, of trans-human genetics. Trans-Human Genetics 

10 Insane Cases of Genetic Engineering:

1. Goats that produce spider silk in their milk; BBC Goats with spider milk
2. Mice that sing and tweet like birds, ostensibly so scientists can study the problem of the evolution of human language; Japan's Singing Mice
3. The “super  salmon”(salmon that likes to mate with brown trout); http://bit.ly/12PBHEt
4. Banana vaccines (for Hepatitis B in this case, to sneak all sorts of vaccines into the population for testing);  Banana Vaccines
5. Phosphorus-friendly pigs (add less phosphorus in their manure); Enviropig
6. Chickehumans laying eggs with cancer-fighting proteins? Paradox of Cancer Metastasis
7.  bovino-menschen, i.e., cows that make human milk Huffington Post - Health Living
8. Scorpiocabbage, modified with the deadly venom of a scorpion to be an insect repellant (could the genes mutate into something toxic to humans?”)  Venomous cabbage
9. Xenotransplantation: organ growing and harvesting: human organs being grown in pigs that manufactured human blood; Genetically Engineered Pigs
10.  Supersoldier: US Army: Super Soldier

What is your take on this topic? Please leave your comments below.

August 16 is National Code Talkers Day

August 16, the U.S. will recognize the sacrifices and heroic measures that only 420 men took part. This day is set aside to recognize the men of the Navajo nation which valiantly took part in Navajo code used in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.

AncestorEbooks.com is honored to share the story of bravery and sacrifice from WWII about the Code Talkers, which began with Phillip Johnston, of California.

From the beginning of World War II, Japanese code breakers were able to break every code the United States created. With many Japanese fluent in English, they were then able to sabotage and send false messages, ambushing Allied troops. [navajocodetalkers.org/code_talker_story/] By the battle for Guadalcanal, the coding for messages were so complex that it took hours for encryption and decryption, and the military argued they needed a better way.

On July 26, 2001, the "original 29" were recognized for their Acts of Valor by receiving the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush. Four of the five living code talkers, and the families of the remaining 24, received the medal during a special ceremony. [bit.ly/19oGtRj]

"The Navajo Code Talkers were kept secret until the 1960s because they were the reason many important battles were won. During the first few hours of the battle of Iwo Jima alone, the code talkers sent nearly 800 messages. Their stories deserve to be told," said Gayla Mendenhall of AncestorEbooks.

AncestorEbooks Remembers the Atomic Bomb

AncestorEbooks in remembering the Atomic Bomb grieves for all involved; for those who carried the weight of the decision to use an atomic bomb to their grave and those who were never able to give their loved ones proper grave. “The reasons and justifications for using such a terrible weapon continue to be studied,” states Cristina Besendorfer, owner of AncestorEbooks.com. “Which ever side of the argument a person stands, these experiences need to be preserved and are the reason AncestorEbooks exists today. The historic facts presented here are just that, facts to remind the world of how devastating war is.”

On 6 August 1945 the American B-29 Bomber, the Enola Gay, deployed the first ever atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb exploded 2,000 feet above the city. The bomb, the equivalent to 12,000-15,000 tons of TNT, destroyed five square miles of Hiroshima and immediately killed 80,000 people.

Hiroshima along with 5,700 cities that comprise "Mayors for Peace" are committed to the abolishment of nuclear weapons by 2020. [bit.ly/12YZ0ka] The Hiroshima Peace Museum has a Peace Watch Tower. This tower's clock does not keep track of time. The first number on the clock represents the number of days since the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the next panel indicates the number of days since the last nuclear test was conducted. [bit.ly/14xgoxx]  The last time clock was reset was to protest the underground nuclear test conducted by North Korea on February 12.

"Perhaps it is those who experience the worst tragedies will understand to what extent love and tolerance matters in life," continues Mrs. Mendenhall. "Those stories, whether they are of massive historical scale or a more personal tragedy need to be shared with future generations. Come to AncestorEbooks.com and tell the stories; let the next generations learn from the suffering and triumphs of their ancestors."

Past-Present-Future: Highlights from IAJGS International Conference of Jewish Genealogy

Past-Present-Future: Highlights from IAJGS International Conference of ...: This week, I'm attending my first genealogy conference (not counting RootsTech which I attended from home). The 33rd IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy is here in Boston this week...

AncestorEbooks Announces Recent Changes to FamilySearch.org

FamilySearch.org has made changes to their website including the ability to delete people, add people who have been deleted, easier access to the FamilySearch Wiki page, the ability to add pictures to your family tree, and have dropped the PAF support. [https://familysearch.org/blog/en/family-treejune-2013/] [https://familysearch.org/PAF]

According to FamilySearch Blog, many patrons of FamilySearch.org have requested that the link to the Wiki page for FamilySearch be easier to locate. The link has now been moved to the top of the FamilySearch search page. [familysearch.org/blog/en/family-reejune-2013/]

FamilySearch has also created the opportunity to delete a person from a family tree. It is advised that this tool only be used to delete a person who has never existed previously in the family tree, or to delete a person who was mistakenly added to the family. [familysearch.org/blog/en/family-treejune-2013/] It is important to note, however, that a person whose records have been added through Church membership records (membership to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) cannot be deleted. 

If a person has been deleted from a family tree, then needs to be re-added, FamilySearch.org has included the opportunity to restore a previously deleted person. Simply find a person who was linked to the deleted person, and go to "change history", "reference", then "restore relationship". [familysearch.org/blog/en/family-treejune-2013/]

FamilySearch.org has also made it possible to upload family photographs to their site and tag family members. [familysearch.org/photos/] Once the photos have been added, albums of ancestors' photographs can be created and shared with others. 

There are some online photo sites that make using the photography tool for FamilySearch.org a littler easier, such as Family Photoloom. [photoloom.com/nfs.html] Family Photoloom allows a person to link pictures to their family history, tag faces and source documents, important New FamilySearch information, Create "heirloom-quality" charts, cross index family relationships, and archive and share images over the internet. Family Photoloom is also FamilySearch certified.

As of July 15, 2013 FamilySearch no longer provides PAF downloads or support. "Advances in technology, strong alternatives from third parties, and the need to focus on the latest FamilySearch iniatives have diminished the need for PAF as part of the FamilySearch offering." [familysearch.org/PAF]

FamilySearch has recommended free, third-party products and software that have been certified to work with FamilySearch and the Family Tree.  There are four types of FamilySearch "Tree Share" certified. [familysearch.org/blog/en/partner-newsjuly-2013/]

The first certification is Tree Access which means that the program can "read only" the FamilySearch Family Tree information.

The next is Tree Connect. This means that the program can read the Family Tree and write the sources, allows for attaching references about ancestors to records, images, stores, etc. found throughout the internet.

Next is Tree Share which is a full Family Tree read and write program allowing the product to reconcile tree data with FamilySearch.

And last is Tree Share Plus, which has the features of Tree Share and FamilySearch collaborative features. This includes Discussions, Sources, and Change History. 

FamilySearch.org has announces that there are now four Tree Share certified applications that are PAF compatible: Ancestral Quest, Celebrating Family History and Me, Legacy Family Tree, and RootsMagic. [familysearch.org/blog/en/partner-newsjuly-2013/] Of these four certified applications, RootsMagic is the first completely Tree Share Plus certified. TenGenChart is certified on the Tree Access level.

To be "certified" means that the product is compatible with FamilySearch.org and has conformed to their strict standards of quality. [familysearch.org/blog/en/partner-newsjuly-2013/]

Gayla Mendenhall of AncestorEbooks says, "The changes to FamilySearch.org are amazing. The opportunities to delete and restore files has been needed for a long time. I am sad though to see PAF becoming obsolete. It is the easiest way to track your own personal genealogy work as compared to what FamilySearch.org automatically inputs into your family tree from the work others have done."

'The opportunity to include pictures and documents with your family tree has been the dream of AncestorEbooks from the beginning,' continues Mrs. Mendenhall. 'We here at AncestorEbooks also give the unique ability to create an one of a kind ebook to tell your family's stories through pictures, mp3 files, and videos."

Crazy Weather

So, WOW! Crazy Kansas and Missouri weather has been quite unusual. I cannot ever remember a July and August with so many storms and as much rain of we have gotten over the last ten days. It has been a surprise, but not necessarily unwelcome. It has kept the normally high temperatures in check, so that it has been much more pleasant to spend time outside with my family. And I'm sure the rain was a much needed blessing!