Federal prosecutors this week charged a Southern California woman with aggravated identity theft and other crimes for allegedly using a popular genealogy research website to locate people who had recently died, and then taking over their credit cards.

Tracy June Kirkland, 42, allegedly used Rootsweb.com to find the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of people who, shall we say, had no further need for their consumer credit lines. She then "would randomly call various credit card companies to determine if the deceased individual had an … account," according to the 15-count indictment filed in federal court in Los Angeles Tuesday.

She'd then persuade the issuer to change the mailing address for the dead victim to one of her many rented mail drops in Orange and Riverside counties, and in some cases she'd add her own name as an authorized user of the card, prosecutors say.

At least 100 of the dearly departed were allegedly used in the scheme, which prosecutors say began in October 2005 and continued until last month. The indictment charges that Kirkland obtained various unspecified goods and cash advances.

A number of amateur sleuths have taken it upon themselves to find names for the graves of the anonymous dead.

One such detective is Todd Matthews, of Tennessee, who began his quest with the grave marker of someone only known as “Tent Girl.”

Through researching forensic records, Internet chat rooms, the use of DNA and other records, he was able to identify this woman who had gone missing 30 years earlier.

But he is not alone. There is a nationwide group of people who have formed the Doe Network, all dedicated to giving names to the unknown dead, and in some cases, helping law enforcement identify missing-person cases.

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"I am retiring on Friday, 29 February 2008

I wish I had the capacity to e-mail everyone with whom I do business - and my friends – individually about the following but this is not practical so I am sending out this general announcement about important changes affecting our publishing
company.

I have sold Moorshead Magazines - which includes Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, History Magazine and the new Discovering Family History and will be retiring. The sale finalizes on Friday 29 February 2008.

This is not quite as radical as it first sounds. I am selling the company to two of the staff - Ed Zapletal and Rick Cree. They have made it clear that their main reason for buying the company is that they do NOT want any changes. There will obviously be some differences as I will be out of the picture, but there will be no staff changes.

Victoria, Marc and Jeannette will be continuing in the same roles.

I turned 65 in November and want time to travel and do other things with Marian (my wife) while we are still capable (I also plan on spending a lot of time researching my own genealogy!). I also want to do more lecturing.

I am intensely proud of what we have done with Moorshead Magazines - we have dedicated, loyal and highly experienced staff. Ed and Rick have both been with me for 24 years - way, way before we published Family Chronicle. We work very well together and we have been pretty successful.

Things are going well – Discovering Family History looks as though it will become another success story and this is important to me; I very much want to retire on a high note.

Part of the sale agreement is that I will act as a consultant related to the magazines for three years so I am not entirely cut off. In addition, I plan to be at the NGS Annual Convention in Kansas City in May, largely to say goodbye personally to the many friends I have made in the genealogy field over the years."

Discovering Family History is the latest magazine from the publishers of Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy and History Magazine. This new bi-monthly magazine is targeted at people who are starting their genealogy, need a refresher course or are tackling a new aspect of genealogy.

Articles are being written by some of the most respected book and magazine authors ­ and many of them have extensive experience of teaching genealogy courses, either face-to-face or online.

There is an introductory subscription rate of $20 per year (same rate for the US and Canada) and a complete 56-page issue can be downloaded in PDF format.

A married couple who sailed to America from England around 1630 are the reason why thousands of people in the United States are at higher risk of a hereditary form of colon cancer, researchers said on Wednesday.

Using a genetic fingerprint, a U.S. team traced back a so-called founder genetic mutation to the couple found among two large families currently living in Utah and New York.

After more than 60 years the archives of the International Tracing Service have become accessible to the public. Historical researchers and other interested people can now examine archives and documents from the Second World War at the Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, Germany. Previously such access was granted only to the victims of Nazi persecution and their next of kin. The archives contain over 50 million information regarding the persecution, exploitation and extermination of millions of civilians by the Nazis.

The Health Metrics Network launches a drive today to encourage countries to count all births and deaths through civil registration.

The Health Metrics Network is a global partnership – hosted by World Health Organization (WHO) – established to address the lack of reliable health information in developing countries.

It was revealed recently that Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama are distant cousins.

This week, thanks to a New York Post story about genealogy, we're getting a glimpse at the rather surprising family tree of President Bush himself.

Log on to any number of American genealogy websites, especially those looking for Native American heritage and it won't take long to come across the name Morning Dove White.

Her name appears for two reasons: first, many Native Americans trace their ancestry through maternal lines, making her a great matriarch, and second, she is the great-great-great grandmother of Elvis Presley, the King of rock and roll.