Howze your father? October 2015

[mardler]

Ever had one of those month-ends creep up on you without realizing it? Certainly this was one for me. We've added just over 900 lives this month and now have over 102,550 people in our database. We passed a small milestone this month as we added quite a few Howze people to or database and took our total to over 500, thanks to some interaction we had with correspondent, Samuel, in Pittsburgh, PA.

Another newspaper source
Heard of Google Maps? Yup. Heard of Google Books? Yup. How about Google Newspapers? Well, I hadn't, anyway. I love newspapers because you can learn so much more from them about the people and how they lived. So much richer than just the normal basic facts. Check Google's newspapers out at https://news.google.com/newspapers. You will see that the collection is extensive for the US, Canada and France. Sorry, readers in the UK and "down under"!

Aussie and Kiwi readers already know that their governments have done a terrific job of digitizing their local newspapers. So just to even things out a bit I thought I'd publish this list of online British newspapers run by fellow Guild of One-Name Studies member, Richard Heaton : http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... hNews.html

Puzzle Corner
This one is a "Doozie!" An obituary in the LA Times of October 7, 1899 read:
"An old tin peddler, whose name is supposed to be Howes, was found dead yesterday in a shed, part of which he occupied, near 1572 West Washington Street. There was nothing in the man's room or on his person to indicate his right name or the location of his relatives, but Mrs Parks, a schoolteacher who was slightly acquainted with him, says that he called himself Howes and that he claimed to have a sister in San Francisco. The old man at one time told Mrs Parks that he was a brother of Millionaire Howes, who died a short time ago but did not state where the death occurred. The old man also claimed that he had formerly lived in Massachusetts and that at one time he was quite wealthy. The man was about 70 years old and the indications point to alcoholism as the immediate cause of death. The body was removed to Garrett's undertaking parlors where an inquest will be held this morning at 11 o'clock."

So, who were "Millionaire Howes" and the man who died? I don't know whether it's relevant but a rich banker named Felix C Howes died in LA just the year before.

Facebook page
A reader asked me this month whether we could have a Facebook page for this site so that people could correspond without the slightly old-fashioned bulletin board format such as this . Hmmm - funny! A long time ago I started a facebook page supposedly dedicated to this site but it gradually morphed into my own personal page. Some of the Howes folks who made contact with me through that method have become good "facebook friends".

So, I'm open to the idea, but do not have the time to run it. Is there someone out there who does?

"Lucky old Howes"
Just want to draw your attention to a lovely story from Norfolk, England about a man named Jon Howes who survived a 33,000 Volt electrocution thanks to the bravery of two local police officers. Read the story here:
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/norfolk_man ... _1_4266202
Quite remarkable that he is still alive let alone out of rehab and beginning to live a normal life again.

1939 Register
In case you have not been deluged with email from the good folks at FindMyPast, on Monday they will release their transcription of the "1939 Register". That's the census substitute taken at the start of World War 2 to establish who was present in the UK and thus who needed an ID card, a ration book and so on. Since the 1931 census was bombed in the war and there was no 1941 census this is the most important new document available for quite some years.

Warning: it's not cheap. FindMyPast is making the most of their monopoly and is charging something close to £5 per family. They are issuing a few discount vouchers but for a study like this it's going to cost us a bomb! So, I'm issuing a plea. I understand that some facilities like The National Archives at Kew and even the Norfolk Family History Society in Norwich may have computers at which the 1939 Register may be viewed for free, though I can't be certain of that until reports start to emerge this coming week. So as you are out and about, please could you keep your eyes and ears open and let me know if you find anywhere offering free access? If you can then offer to do some look ups for us that would be marvellous. And, if you purchase your own access to the 1939 Register for someone named Howes, we be VERY grateful if you would share the results with us.

The Howes study in person
And finally, if you are in the St Augustine, Florida area, and are free on the afternoon of November 14, you might like to know that I am speaking to the St Augustine Genealogical Society about British research on pre-1837 sources. You can see more details here: http://www.stauggens.com/.
If you can, please do stop by and say hello.