Follow Friday: 3 September 2010

This Week

In “A Day Spent at Findagrave,” Apple at Apple’s Tree does the venting that so many of us must long to do about some of the less attractive practices of certain Findagrave contributors.

"Myrtle" at DearMyrtle’s Genealogy Blog has posted an outstanding series on interviews with her friend Elsie (and has also devoted a blog to Elsie’s recollections and memorabilia at Elsie says…). Interviews don’t always go according to plan, and this is a wonderful demonstration of how to adapt your interviews to your subject.

“Interviewing Elsie: tender times”
“Interviewing Elsie: revised plan”
“Interviewing Elsie: plan c”
“Interviewing Elsie: friends come to call”

Daniel Hubbard of Personal Past Meditations – A Genealogical Blog delves into one of my favorite subjects, onomastic evidence in genealogy, in “Making Names for Ourselves.”

Randy Seaver has posted some thought-provoking articles at Genea-Musings on citing derivative sources or the original sources (English parish records) used by the derivative sources and inspired some equally thought-provoking responses, both comments and articles, to: “Confessions of a Name Collector – English Sources,” “Confessions of a Name-Collector: Adding Families to my Database” and “Citing My English Sources – My Preference.” (Bart Brenner’s resonse is “Name Collecting – ‘Mythology’ or the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Option” at Stardust ‘n’ Roots.)

At Rainy Day Genealogy Readings, Jennifer has written a beautiful rant: “Online Family Trees: Good, Bad or Ugly? Or, a Rant in D-Minor.”

Becky Jamison has a stunner for us at Grace and Glory: “My All-time Biggest Surprise in Genealogy.” Some of the most mind-blasting moments in genealogy hit close to home!

Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy asks my favorite question of the week: “Is Genealogy a Hobby?” There is also an excellent post on this by John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch: “Defining the Genealogical Pursuit.”

For those researching ancestors in countries where documents are scarce and/or difficult to access, Nolichucky Roots demonstrates how photos can be used as evidence of kinship in “The Hricak Girls Save the Day!"

An extremely interesting discussion by Thomas Macentee (and visitors who commented) of High-Definition Genealogy (“Is There a Perceived Age Demographic in Genealogy”) and Marian Pierre-Louis (and visitors who commented) at Roots and Rambles (“The Perceived Age Demographic in Genealogy”).

Over at Family History Writing, read about the author’s participation in a neighborhood experiment in living like our ancestors – no trips to store or gas station, no electricity – in “A Taste of Yesterday.” Intriguing!

This week’s Open Thread Thursday (which feature, by the way, has become one of my “must reads” – fascinating topics and interesting responses) at GeneaBloggers is “The Content Wars.” Quite a few bloggers have responded with posts on their own blogs, perhaps too many to list here, but let’s hope they all link to their posts in the comments.

For more suggested genealogy blog reading, check out Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs at Genea-Musings and John Newmark's Weekly Genealogy Picks at TransylvanianDutch.

This week I started following these blogs:

Daily Genealogy Transcriber – this one, by Michael John Neill, is so much fun!

Long Lost Relatives

ProGenealogists

d kay s days

Family Tree Folk

Identifinders

MacArthur’s Genealogy Services

Nina’s Genealogy

On Being a Bridge Builder

Pioneer Portraits – Miller/Swain Family History

The Passionate Genealogist

The Scottish Emigration Blog