May 10, 2009 is Mother’s Day. As I was reflecting on this special day, I started thinking about my maternal ancestors that lost their little ones at infancy—and some even their own lives.

Charles Strother Smith was my great grandfather. For many years the Smith Family researchers pondered on his middle name, Strother. We assumed it was a mother or grandmother’s maiden name, but research proved that theory incorrect.

Charles Noah and Mary Martha Shook are the parents of Bolivar Lee Shook, the author of song, Cabin on the Hill, recorded by Flatt & Scruggs.

I am sharing a letter of an Irish Descendant, Father Tom Maloney. He beautifully reflects on the history of Ireland and how it related to his genealogy research and lives of his ancestors.

USGenWeb needs YOUR help! Do you have extra time to volunteer in a genealogy related activity? The USGenWeb has posted the following: Volunteers Needed!

In order for our descendants to learn the things we have researched about our families, we have to documents and write down the facts and stories. Genwriters is a great website to assist you in getting started. Personally, I have referred to it many times and I wanted to share it with you.

Family Tree Maker 2009© (FTM 2009) users will appreciate the easy to use Sources and Publish features. I’m glad to see the FTM developers reserved a tab for this important feature. Experienced genealogists cite their sources as should all genealogists for validation.

After a successful beta period, Afriquest (www.afriquest.com), the free online database for records of African and African American genealogy and history, will officially launch on Saturday, February 28. It is FREE!

Lowcountry Africana and The South Carolina Department of Archives and History today announced plans to digitize and publish freely online more than 25,000 historic documents of interest to researchers of African American genealogy and history.

Part two of my review of Family Tree Maker 2009© (FTM 2009) includes features in the Web Search, Places and Media workspaces. FTM expanded the Web Search feature with more databases on a manual basis, either paid for or free. FTM still searches the Ancestry database for results.