Follow Friday: Into the Light

Renate’s blog Into the Light is an engaging illustration of the genealogy blog as chronicle of a journey. There is both struggle and poetry in that journey. The focus is on both researching family history and living family history, and how those two processes intertwine – discovery begets understanding. One of my favorite recent posts in this vein was “Sentimental Sundays – Sentimental Journeys” on family events of special significance.

Renate’s posts on her family members and ancestors are fully fleshed-out portraits rather than dry recitations of statistics and events (though Renate can do a mean timeline: check out “Calvin R. Yarborough – Where it all began”). Her entry in the Carnival of African-American Genealogy – Grandma’s Hands, “Grandmothers and Their Influence on the Family,” was insightful and gave a full description of the lives of these ladies, and there were links to even more information in other articles such as “Fearless Female – Anna G. Yarborough.” I was inspired to take stock of my knowledge of my own grandmothers: could I say that I knew this much about my own grandmothers? The answer was no, and I resolved then and there to rectify that situation. So if I were to make a list genealogy blogs that have inspired and influenced me, Into the Light would definitely be on it.

This Week

At The Research Journal, YourIslandRoutes (sorry, I do not know the blogger’s name) writes about “My First Genealogy Teacher.” Great subject, and I think it would be interesting to hear from others on it.

Elyse at Elyse’s Genealogy Blog ask a question many of us have asked ourselves: “Are Genealogists Mean to Lack Answers?” I’ve often wondered if it isn’t those missed opportunities – not asking questions of older relatives when they were still around – that gives special urgency to “finding the answers” in genealogy.

In “Miss Conduct” footnoteMaven addresses the recent discussion of the pluses and minuses of a Code of Conduct for Genea-Bloggers.

For another take on the subject, check out Chris’s “A Contrary Code of Conduct” at The Genealogue.

Daniel Hubbard at Personal Past Meditations – A Genealogical Blog delves into a fascinating subject – math and genealogy (including pedigree collapse) – in “A Genealogist in Mathmagic Land.”

There were also quite a few great posts this week by bloggers who attended the NGS Conference in Salt Lake City. Wish I had been there to meet you all!

This week I started following these blogs:

Wild Rhododendrons: A Family History

Family Tree Circles Blog

Forks in My Trees

Genealogy Geek

Granny & Gramp’s Place

Jirene’s Genealogy Tips

Restored Memories

Southern Greens

Sunny Ancestry