POLISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF MINNESOTA Newsletter Volume 26#3 Fall 2018 2018 at the Twin Cities Polish Festival In This Issue By Dori Marszalek • President’s Letter What another great year for PGS-MN to be able to • PGSMN at the TCPF participate in the 10th Annual Twin Cities Polish Fes- tival. People were actually waiting for us to get set • The “Fourth Partition up on Friday and it was a steady line all the way up to 8:00 pm. • Missing Branches Saturday was another crazy busy day and we • Upcoming Events signed up 5 members that day. • Membership insert Sunday brought in another steady stream of people • Polish Independence Gala who didn’t want us to close at the end of the day. • Death Records Shredded We sold a total of 19 books and the PGS-MN Can Koolies were a hot item. • Familypedia Thanks again to the volunteers who were your in- • Photo copying Fair Use volved in making 2018 another great year to get the word out there for PGS-MN. • Old Newspaper Ads for Research Please consider volunteering in 2019 to make a even bigger impact at the festival. 1 PRESIDENT’S LETTER Autumn is such a refreshing time of year! It is a time when our enthusiasm grows as we focus once again on projects we set aside during the busy days of summer. Genealogy is one of those fall projects where we can add to our family history the stories and memories we learned while visiting with relatives during the summer. Our September program was a wonderful presentation given by Jay Biendy on the history of the partitions of Poland. If you missed the meeting the meeting slides are available on pgsmn.org. Definitely not the same as hearing the in-person presenta- tion but the slides give you a nice documented history of Poland. On Saturday, October 6, we will follow September’s topic with a DVD presentation of “The Fourth Partition.” This is the story of Polish immigrants in Chicago, IL in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If you are interested in further history of Polish Chicago, a good follow up read is Dominic A. Pacyga’s book, “Slaughterhouse: Chicago’s Union Stock Yard and the World It Made.” This book chronicles the rise and fall of the livestock industry and its enduring effect on the city of Chicago. Twice now some event occurred that prevented me from doing my family history presentation. This is now re-scheduled for the November 3rd PGS-MN program meeting. As you know, PGS-MN is a non-profit organization operated and sustained strictly by volunteer members. This includes the board of directors. We are currently seeking nominations for president, vice president, director I, and director III for the 2019 board of directors. I am not running for re-election to the president position. If you’d like to nominate someone, or yourself, please contact me or Jay Biendy. Elections will be at the annual meeting on Saturday, January 19, 2019. Thank you for your support. Peggy Larson [email protected] PGSMN Membership Update Please check your address label, if it has a Membership exp: 09/30/2018, or earlier— this maybe your Last Newsletter!! PGS-MN is Still a Bargain at $20 per year!! Our standard PGS-MN Society membership dues have been stable for the last eight years at $20 per year. This is comparable to many other ethnic, regional genealogical organization across the country. We truly value your membership and would like to Thank You, for your continued support. 2 Court Rules Copying Photos Found on Internet is Fair Use The Federal Court system (Virginia) ruled that photo(s) on the Internet and its use without permission on a commercial website can be considered fair use. This ruling will affect photographers, as well as many genealogists who are building or maintaining web sites. In the United States, whether or not a use of copyrighted material without permission can be considered fair use (17 U.S. Code § 107) depends on four main factors: (1) the purpose and character of the use (including whether it’s “transformative” and commer- cial vs. non-commercial), (2) the nature of the copyrighted work, (3) how much of the work is used, and (4) how much the use affects the market and/or value of the work. After considering these four factors, District Judge Claude M. Hilton of the Eastern District of Virginia concluded that the festival’s use of Brammer’s photo fit the criteria for fair use. It is anticipated that this ruling will be challenged. Address/email changes or membership questions? Contact Dori Marszalek, Membership Chair, 3901-61st AV N, Brooklyn Center, MN 55419-2403 or email [email protected] PGSMN Officers/Board of Directors Polish Genealogical Society of Minnesota President — Peggy Larson (763-445-0090) A branch of the Minnesota Genealogical Society [email protected] Vice President— Paula Colwell (612-220-4852) 1385 Mendota Heights Road [email protected] Mendota Heights, MN 55120-1367 Treasurer - Gary Wolf (715-220-7052) [email protected] Committees Secretary - Vicki Myslajek (763-533-5658) [email protected] Library—Bob Kraska Director - Connie Waldherr Membership—Dori Marszalek & Connie Waldherr [email protected] Newsletter/Website —Marie Przynski Director - Dori Marszalek (763-535-2296) [email protected] Programs/Publicity— Director - Richard Theissen (651-739-1490) Research—John Rys— ([email protected]) and [email protected] Greg Kishel Director - Marie Przynski (612-501-2799) [email protected] 3 DNA leads to Arrest in Florida Woman’s 1999 Murder Since 1869, when Friedrich Miescher discovered a substance he called "nuclein" and later developed into DNA, it has been used to identify nucleic acid in chromosomes. In 1968, DNA as a forensic crime tool became mainstream in England, when it was used to solve the murder of Claire Josephs, and capture of the public attention was cemented. Numerous other noteable crimes have been solved using DNA testing. In 1984, Sir Alec Jeffreys invented DNA “fingerprinting” and the research has continued to advance. In March of 1999, Deborah Dalzell was murdered. Who did it remained a mystery for nearly two decades, with only a DNA sample of the suspect was captured. Over time, DNA technology improved, making it possible to project physical appearance and an- cestry from DNA evidence. The investigation resumed. The crime scene sample was compared to a database of DNA profiles provided voluntarily and a link was found to the suspect’s father. The suspect Luke Fleming was identified and arrested. “Thanks to DNA evidence coupled with ancestry and genealogy, we’ve finally connected the dots,” said Sheriff Tom Knight. Expanded Ellis Island Immigrant Records 1820-1957 are now Online for Free FamilySearch and The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. announced today the entire collection of Ellis Island New York Passenger Arrival Lists from 1820 to 1957 are now available online on both websites giving the opportunity to the descendants of over 100 million arrivals to discover their ancestors quicker and free of charge. Originally preserved on microfilm, 9.3 million images of historical New York passenger records spanning 130 years were digitized and indexed in a massive effort by 165,590 online FamilySearch volunteers. The result is a free searchable online database containing 63.7 million names, including immigrants, crew, and other passengers traveling to and from the United States through the nation’s largest port of entry. Details may be found in the FamilySearch Blog at: https://www.familysearch.org/blog/ en/archive-ellis-island-records/. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has created a 30-minute documentary video, "USCIS and the Legacy of Ellis Island. While most docu- mentaries about Ellis Island describe the immigrant experience, this video tells the story from the perspective of those who worked there. “USCIS holds a distinctive place in history for its role in processing immigrants into the fabric of our nation,” USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna said to employees at the premiere. “It remains an indisputable fact that America is a nation of immigrants. As employees, we all have an essential duty in honoring and preserving that legacy.” https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-premieres-video- highlighting-its- historic-connections-ellis-island. 4 “The Fourth Partition” a DVD video presentation PGS-MN Meeting October 6, 2018, 10:00am – Noon During the late 1700’s Poland had suffered territorial partitions. The last partition occurred in 1795, completely removing Poland from the map of Europe. Poland had been broken into three separate partitions, each one controlled by a different country. With all of Poland now partitioned between Russia, Germany (Prussia) and Austria, over 4,000,000 Poles immigrated to the United States between 1870 and 1920 in search of a better life. At the dawn of the 20th century, Chicago was the second largest city in the United States with over 2,000,000 residents. It was also considered the center of Polish culture in America because of the large numbers of Poles in Chicago. In their neighbor- hoods, Poles built communities, churches, and most of all, aided their beloved Poland in her fight for independence which occurred in 1918, one hundred years ago. Their story has become known as the "Fourth Partition". Please NOTE: Any time remaining at this meeting will be available for discussion of personal experiences in researching your family history. Minnesota Genealogical Center- Mississippi Meeting Room 1385 Mendota Heights Rd Mendota Heights, MN 55120 NEW LOCATION: just a mile north of Highway 494 off the Pilot Knob Road exit. Everyone is invited! Bring a friend.