On 28 December 2013 Dick Eastman wrote a second article
about the Fulton History website – the go-to site for those of us
researching New York State ancestors. I have had this site bookmarked in my
favorites for years and use it as frequently as Ancestry or FamilySearch.
In the article Mr. Eastman states that Mr. Tryniski, the
site’s owner, has grown his collection of newspaper pages from 10,258,000 in
2009 when Mr. Eastman’s first article appeared to 26,108,000 as of Dec. 28. The
site now also features newspapers from New Jersey, Connecticut, Minnesota,
Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
The site is free, and according to Mr. Eastman’s article,
has almost four times more articles online than the Library of Congress “Chronicling
America” collection and without costing taxpayers a dime! Mr. Tryniski is paying it forward big
time.
This article reminded me of a plea I made early on. When we developed the 1890 Census for
Newtown, Connecticut, I thought if only a couple of people in every locality would
develop a 1890 Census substitute, it would open a window into that critical
twenty year period in our ancestors’ lives. That information can be found with school records, grand
lists, tax rolls, etc. Another
project would be to transcribe one historic record or ledger to be posted
online. What a nice way to pay it forward.
