The 1973 fire at the U.S. Military Personnel Records Center in St. Louis destroyed many service records for those in the army and the Air Force. Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Defense seems to be using it as an excuse for not providing information to those seeking to replace service awards. Dick Eastman wrote about this situation in a recent post about Validating Military Valor Medals on his blog.

I enjoy reading Lelend Meitzler’s GenealogyBlog. He often tips me off to things I haven’t yet come across. This week he talked about a bill before the U.S. House of Representatives that would allow the National Park Service to protect battlefields from the American Revolution and the War of 1812. You can read more in his post Bill to Buy War of 1812 Battlefields Before Congress.

My dear friend Audrey Collins discussed a very valuable resource she recently learned about for those researching their English and Welsh ancestors. “The State of the Poor” by Sir Frederick Morton Eden was published in 1797. It is a three-volume set that includes detailed examination of the poor in select parishes from each county. The State of the Poor and The State of the Poor Update from The Family Recorder will give you more details.

Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist is at it again. This week she published an excellent discussion of the effects of water on deeds. More specifically, waterways that are mentioned in land records, and what the effects are when the course of the waterways change. Read this fascinating story, and learn the difference between accretion and avulsion and how they are treated differently under the law, in As the River Flows. If you want some entertainment while reading the article, try listening to Let the River Run from Carly Simon.

Over the course of a week Randy Seaver did an excellent review comparing the 1940 U.S. Census index on Ancestry.com  with that on FamilySearch.org. His first post explained the methodology, then he moved on to review several families of interest. On Monday he provided a summary and conclusions. It makes for interesting reading at Geneamusings.com.