Quick Update!

Today I made a bit of a start uploading some of the various data to the website. It is going to be a slow process, and is very likely to take me to the end of the year to complete the task.

Currently the website is divided into the following structure

• Data sets
• Country
• Place

Material is currently be uploaded into a Google Spreadsheet. I do actually use Excel, but if I convert to Google Docs then the size is not included in my Google Drive allocation.

As I load to Google Drive and then create the web page I am also building the online Master Index.

Today I have managed to load varying data sets for the following locations

• Petralias Sottana Sicily - Births & Misc
• San Caltano Sicily - Marriages & Deaths
• Montreal Quebec - Burials
• Scotland Burial - just the one!
• GRO references for England & Wales 1837 - 1966 (still some to be added), BMDs
• USA - Naturalisation Records - 2 different locations

The data is being loaded in a structured random way so that I can ensure if there are any issues I can deal with them early on.

Today is the first day in quite a long while that I have done any work on my own ONS and felt as though I have achieved something. Long may that continue.

If you do have a look at the website, please give me some feedback. The structure is pretty well set, but there is likely to be a few tweaks, especially around the US records.

Some Orlando One Name Study Housekeeping!

For some time, I have been very frustrated on the structure of my Orlando One Name Study.

The reason for the frustration was that the overseas data, (material pertaining to venues outside of the UK) had grown almost of out of control, as archives and various indexes make things available online.In effect, the study had grown faster, with wider search mechanisms that I would have liked. My preference would have been for a slower gathering of data.

In a perfect world, I would have set the structure on extracting the date from my homeland - the UK before moving on to other Countries. Orlando is an Italian name, so immediately there is an overseas element. Added complications is that the most common occurrences of the name outside of Italy are in the United States. So from the start the overseas element was fairly high profile.

The study currently contains a wealth of information, but I was unhappy with the structure. There was nothing wrong with the structure, just simply I didn't like it! I therefore set about making some decisions.

1. Creation and structure of a master index
2. Creation of a newsletter
3. Making the material available online
4. This blog was not going to allow me to put the data online in the format that I wanted which made the necessity for a web page more pressing
5. Getting to grips with the DNA project
6. Encouraging growth on the Facebook group

Current Status

• The website is now set up and data is slowly being added with the added facilities of
• Google Drive - for the storage of audio clips and spreadsheets
• A newsletter has now been published with the next edition due in January 2014
• Orlando News
• This blog is now linked from the website and will continue to share data 
• The DNA project is up and running and I need to get my head around the whole process
• Maurice Gleeson of the Guild of One Name Studies has produced some videos - YouTube
• The Facebook group is up and running - now with a vanity address

There will be a gradual process of information sorting, indexing and preparing for website access over the coming months. It is all rather exciting and I am looking forward to getting cracking!

Obituary - Pat Orlando

ORLANDO, PAT 

Age 82, of Lachine, Mich., and formerly of St. Clair Shores, passed away Saturday, October 12, 2013 at The Village Rehabilitation and Care Community in Armada. 

Pat was born November 1, 1930 in Detroit. In 1948, she graduated from the Felician Academy, where she learned to speak Polish. 

On May 20, 1951, Pat married John B. Orlando and then added Sicilian to her language library. Her love of language and communication extended to her work. 

From her early job as a switchboard operator to her ministry with the Beaver Lake Community Church; Pat was a caring person. She was a Bible Study and Sunday School Teacher, active in the Women's Ministry and choir, worked with hospice, volunteered as an elementary school reading aide and helped those in need of food. All who knew Pat will remember her welcoming spirit, infectious laugh and great food. 

Surviving are her children, Jim (Rosemary) Orlando, Rose Marie (Jim) Torrento, Diane (Jim) Saylor and Lori Orlando; eight grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; sisters-in-law, Angie Orlando and Josie (Vic) Valice; and many friends. She was predeceased by her husband, John; parents, James Allen and Marie Jakubowski; and stepfather, Stanley Jakubowski.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Pat's name to Beaver Lake Community Church Food Pantry,9007 M65 South, Lachine, MI 49753 or The Alzheimer's Association , P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC 20090-6011.

Published in The Macomb Daily 20th October 2013
(Paper serving Macomb County, Michigan (suburban Detroit, Michigan, USA).

Sent to me by a kind member of the Guild of One Name Studies

The launch of

Orlando News

I have long deliberated about producing a newsletter for one one name study and given the lack of interest it hardly seemed worth the effort. I shelved the idea. At this point, the study has been in existence for 11 years, and whilst I have only ever had two communications about my study, I have had a change of heart.

A few weeks ago, I emailed the British Library at their ISSN Centre in Boston Spa and requested an ISSN Number. I hold the view that if I am going to do it, I might as well do it properly.

The number was emailed to me within a day and there it sat in my inbox. That was until today, when I put the number on my first, small edition of Orlando News.

The plan is to publish the newsletter 4 times a year, although I may on occasions produce an extra edition.

The newsletter can be downloaded from the link published HERE or via the page links at the top of this page. A copy will also be lodged with the British Library Depository Department as they request and a further copy will be archived with the Guild of One Name Studies.