Posts By: whuskonen

Vesanto, my grandparents home town in Finland, is 150 today

Vesanto residents celebrated the municipality’s 150th birthday today: May 14, 2021. Vesanto became an independent municipality on May 14, 1871. Due to the corona virus situation, a small group gathered at the municipal marina and beach by Lake Vesantojärvi for speeches, group singing, and a poetry reading by school children. In addition the event was

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Having Fun with Green Screen in Zoom

In a former life, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I operated an audio-visual production company, As a result of that experience, I have been fascinated by the possibilities of using “green screen” technology (sometimes referred to as chroma key compositing) to achieve a composite video or photo. This technology makes it possible to

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World Pandemic Declared 1 Year Ago Today

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared that Covid-19 coronavirus had reached world pandemic levels. Soon every thing in the United States was shut down. Two days before that I drove out to Fairport Harbor in Lake County to give an in-person presentation entitled “Where’s Otto: How the Internet Helped Track Down 10

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What Do Those Numbers Mean in Census Records?

One thing leads to another in genealogy. I was researching an uncle (by marriage), Waino Aleksanteri Seppelin, who came to this country from Finland in 1910 and very shortly got a job as a laborer in a steel mill in Warren, Trumbull, Ohio, USA. Waino eventually worked into the better-paying job of “heater.” His census

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MyHeritage to be Acquired by Private Equity Firm Francisco Partners

I am a subscriber to MyHeritage.com, a genealogical database provider that has helped me connect with cousins in Finland, from which my paternal grandparents emigrated to America in 1902 and 1903. I am a subscriber because MyHeritage, which is based in Israel, has aggressively marketed its services in Europe, including Finland. Yesterday (24 Feb 2021),

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Genealogical Crime Mysteries – A New Genre

I have been involved in genealogical research for about 25 years. For the last half dozen years, I have been using DNA testing to find relatives. I also enjoy reading detective novels. When I set out to write this review of The Chester Creek Murders, by Nathan Dylan Goodwin, I discovered that there is a

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My Genealogy Beginnings Happened in Salt Lake City

Nearly 25 years ago, I was on a business trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. At the end of the day’s scheduled activities, my business colleague announced that he wanted to visit the LDS Family History Library (www.familysearch.org/locations/saltlakecity-library) to do some research. Since I had nothing planned for the evening, I decided to tag along.

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Collecting Death Certificates–Payoffs and Pitfalls

Who, what, where and when are key questions that are answered by genealogical records. In the following discussion, we are adding two more questions: why and how. Who to collect death certificates for: ● Direct ancestors are a top priority. ● Ancillary ancestors are a second priority. ● Obtaining death certificates is becoming more costly.

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Did the Pandemic Kill Christmas Cards?

2020 probably was a terrible year for Christmas Card sales. At least my experience would indicate that is was. I received only 1 Christmas letter this year via the U.S. Postal Service. Ordinarily, I would receive a half dozen letters from family and friends. I received only two Christmas cards, and one was hand-delivered to

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