RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 15, 2017
KINSEARCHING
by
Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
Three major celebrations will occur in Concordia, Kansas, on 1-4 June 2017. The commemorations include the tenth anniversary of the opening of the National Orphan Train Complex, the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Orphan Train Heritage Society of America (OTHSA) by Mary Ellen Johnson, and the one hundredth birthday of the Union Pacific Depot, which now houses the Orphan Train Museum. For more details, go to the website at http://orphantraindepot.org, call 785-243-4471, or write to the National Orphan Train Complex, Inc., P. O. Box 322, Concordia, Kansas 66901-0322.
The Timen Stiddem Society website has a new address: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~tstiddem. Founded in 1998, the organization focuses on descendants of the Swedish immigrant, Timen Stiddem, who settled in New Sweden (now Wilmington), Delaware) in the seventeenth century. Alternate spellings of the STIDDEM surname include STEADHAM, STEDHAM, STIDAM, STIDHAM, STIDOM, and STEDDOM.
Every other year, a national Stidham family reunion is held at a different location in the United States. The 2017 gathering will take place in July in Wilmington/Lewes, Delaware.
In 2016, the organization’s official publication, the Timen Stiddem Society Newsletter, won the National Genealogical Society Family Association Newsletter Competition for the sixth time. A subscription to the highly-touted twice-yearly periodical is included in the annual membership dues of only $15.00. Membership is open to anyone interested in the family’s history, even if he or she is not a descendant. Checks, payable to the society, may be mailed to 209 East State Street, Millsboro, Delaware 19966.
Well-known family history businesses, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., and Clearfield Company, have launched a new e-book website at http://library.genealogical.com. Presently, the site has more than 500 titles online and is expected to have a total of 800 in place by the end of January. Eventually, they plan to have the majority of their nearly 2,000 titled available as e-books before the end of the year.
Visiting the new website has several benefits. For instance, you can search the site by locality, subject, time period, and several other categories. You have the opportunity to utilize the “look inside the book” feature, which enables you to view pages from the publication; you can even search for the names of your ancestors in a book that looks promising—before you buy it.
E-books have some advantages over print copies. For example, e-books cost at least thirty percent below the price of hard copies and you do not have to pay shipping fees.
Purchasing e-books is also simple since you can do so via e-mail, Facebook, or Google. In addition, the website offers flexibility for reading e-books; you can read them on the site or you can download them to the reader of your choice.
Despite the availability of e-books, both companies will continue to publish good, old-fashioned print copies so customers will have a choice of format. After all, many longtime genealogists still prefer hard copies because they have their own set of advantages.