IIGS™ Newsletter - October 1998
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IIGS™ Newsletter - October 1998
One of the purposes of the International Internet Genealogical Society (IIGS™) is to link genealogists worldwide. There is good reason for doing so: Our ancestors were mobile.
Throughout history, our ancestors migrated from their homelands and adopted new ones. Not all crossed huge oceans to their new homes. Some of them crossed mountains or rivers or moved their households to a neighboring village. Others did not have to move, but simply found themselves living under new rulers who had conquered them.
National boundaries are a fairly recent innovation in history. And, in many cases, those national boundaries have been very fluid.
Genealogy would be a simple (and boring) exercise if our ancestors had remained in one location and under one government throughout history. Even if we find that our ancestors never migrated, chances are someone from the family did leave. Why? The reasons are legion. They may have sought adventure or new fertile ground for their farms. Men and women married and moved to the village of their spouse's family.
It makes sense, then, for genealogists to consider themselves members of a world community. The IIGS™ Newsletter strives to be the voice of that world community. It is our goal to have each issue reflect genealogy at its international best. The September issue has been translated into Dutch and Swedish and the October issue will be in four languages: English, Dutch, Portuguese and Swedish. Jan Daamen, the leader of the IIGS™ Translation Team, has a call out for volunteer translators in this month's issue to help make the webpages and newsletters of the IIGS™ available in as many languages as possible. If you can help, please contact Jan.
My own call as editor is for article submissions from genealogists throughout the world. Articles do not have to be written in English. Write them in your native language and we will handle the translations.
This month, the IIGS™ Newsletter features articles on Mennonite genealogy in Canada, the Melungeon ancestry question in America, a German genealogy transcription project, and copyright laws. The IIGS™ Newsletter Team invites articles for future issues from genealogists in Europe, Asia, Africa, Central America, South America, Indonesia and any place on the globe where genealogists reside.
Please send submissions to Penny Bonnar pbonnar@win.bright.net.