Follow Friday: TransylvanianDutch

John Newmark of TransylvanianDutch is one of the “all-around heavy-hitter” geneabloggers: a man of many and diverse interests (poetry, baseball, humor, politics, and, of course, genealogy, among others), a very interesting family background that covers quite a bit of territory, and the creator of at least one major GeneaBlogger tradition: Amanuensis Monday.

He tackles various issues in the genealogy community, covers technology aspects, online tools, and local history and genealogy resources, writes a weekly post on genealogy articles and blog posts of interest (Weekly Genealogy Picks), delves into some of his other interests, and, oh yeah, includes musings on miscellaneous subjects as well. I especially enjoy the poetry and miscellaneous subjects; they demonstrate something I believe about geneabloggers as a group: they are people with quite a wide range of interests and talents.

You should not be missing this blog. It has something for everyone.

This Week

The author of Nolichucky Roots poses some interesting questions about racial and ethnic identity and family responses to revelations from research (including DNA) in “Teeter Tottering through Genealogy.”

In “Is The Way To A Geneablogger’s Heart Through Their Vanity?” footnoteMaven looks into the maneuvering behind the recent MyHeritage.com awards.

At Rainy Day Genealogy Readings Jennifer addresses the question of “When is military service not military service?” in “Topics in Research – the Veteran Who Never Served.” We get a view into the interesting story of the 56th Illinois Infantry, aka the Mechanic Fusileers, Camp Douglas, the notorious prisoner of war camp near Chicago, and one man’s fight to have his status as a Civil War veteran restored.

At Blind Pig & The Acorn, Tipper has announced a new series: Music in Appalachia. I can’t wait!

Some exciting and wonderful news at Mary’s Musings: check out “Little Girl Lost – Tracie L. Post” and “Little Girl Lost Lost FOUND (A Success Story).”

Gini at Ginisology has had a great genealogy breakthough with some wonderful help from Thomas MacEntee. Read her post “Webex, Thomas, and Finding Hans~” to find out some outstanding cooperative genealogy was done!

Two of our GeneaBloggers have started new blogs: Joan at Roots’n’Leaves has started Roots’n’Leaves – Letters of Ralph Jabez McPherson and Carol at Reflections from the Fence has started Reflection’s Flora and Fauna.

Many thanks to Lisa Swanson Ellam at The Faces of My Family for featuring Greta’s Genealogy Bog this Follow Friday!

Wishes for good health to Ruth Coker Burks at last2cu for recovery from a stroke.

This week I started following these blogs:

Brumley Branches Genealogy

Heritage Zen:

It’s all about Genealogy Books

Journey’s Past

Potato Roots

Sharing a Slice of Life