Friday Newsletter and Follow News: 18 February 2011

This Week in Genea-Blogging

How can you use Findagrave, let us count the ways

At Blood and Frogs, Philip Tauring shows us through some of the ins and outs of Findagrave in "Using Findagrave.com. to..."


Another “What she said” post

This time from Denise Olson at Moultrie Creek Gazette: “Why Blogs Matter.”


One of the best portraits of a relative I have ever read

is Susan’s reminiscences of her grandmother Anna at Nolichucky Roots: “Anna’s Story - Memories and Reflections.”


The most devastating stories are told in plain words

At My Ancestor’s Name, Angela Walton-Raji related the heartbreaking story told by her great-great grandmother in the deposition for her Union Soldier’s Widow’s and Mother’s pension in “I Ain’t Seed Them No More.”  Angela is having a great week: at The African-Native American Genealogy Blog, she follows this up with “Following the Paper Trail of Our Ancestors,” in which she relates her experience in finding documents on her ancestors in the Indian Territory (which is a challenging area for research at the very least) and the story that these documents tell.


Good companion pieces to Lisa Swanson Ellam’s post

entitled “Another Google Alert Makes My Jaw Drop” (which is up to Part 4 now; you must read this series!) a while back are two of Marian Pierre-Louis’ posts this week. The first is “An Easy Way to Find Gravestones Online” at The Symbolic Past. Marian walks us through the steps for entering the information for a Google Alert that would bring up this information. The second is over at Roots and Rambles: “How Do You Use Google Alerts?”


An idea whose time has come

Read about Denise Olson’s thoughts on “Is It Time for a Virtual Genealogy Society?” at Moultrie Creek Gazette.


Read about some interesting “mind-mapping" tools

at Tami Glatz’s relatively curious about genealogy in “Approaching Your Genealogy Problems Creatively.” When you need a visual approach to projects and problem-solving, these applications could be just what you are looking for.


Tell us about it!

In “Happiness Is: The Family History Library in Salt Lake City,” Lorine McGinnis Shulze of the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog writes about her recent visit to the Library and provides pictures and a step by step description of accessing, scanning, and saving images from microfilm - very useful information for anyone who has not visited the Library.


Old and new

Check out Valerie Craft’s old/new photograph juxtaposition technique in “Tombstone Tuesday: Looking Into the Past” at Begin with Craft.


How many types?

Randy Seaver has an interesting division of genealogy types in “Three (or more!) Genealogy Worlds?” at Genea-Musings. This has generated a good bit of discussion.

One of the responses to Randy's post is “More ‘Genealogy Worlds’” at Deb’s Delvings in Genealogy, where Debbie Parker Wayne adds a fourth world, “traditional but experienced.”


There have been several posts this week in response to the Roots Tech Conference or very much in tune with some of the issues highlighted by that conference, both by bloggers who attended Roots Tech and those who didn’t. As a matter of fact, I hope to post some reflections on these issues, if my so-called “real life” doesn’t keep interfering. Some of the notable posts (but not all - there were many!):


Kerry Scott’s “Warning: Contents May Have Shifted During Flight” and “What Was Different About RootsTech?” at Clue Wagon.

Marian Pierre-Louis’ “What Genealogists Want! Conference Organizers Take Note” at Roots and Rambles.

Amy Coffin’s “Why RootsTech is the Bees Knees” at We Tree Genealogy Blog.

Angela Walton Raji’s “Future Genealogy Conferences” at My Ancestor’s Name.

And, one of the most interesting at all, because it presented some suggestions for improvement, was Dear Myrtle’s “RootsTech 2011: My Report to Management” at Dear Myrtle’s Genealogy Blog.

Also check out Thomas MacEntee’s “Open Thread Thursay - The Rootstech Effect” at Genea-Bloggers for a list of posts.


For more suggested blog reading ...

Check out "Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere" at Susan Petersen's Long Lost Relatives.net and "Best of the Genea-Blogs" at Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings.


Happy Blogoversary to Nick Gombash at Nick Gombash’s Genealogy Blog!

Happy First Blogoversary to Donna Jane at Hanging from the Family Tree!

Happy Second Blogoversary to Robin at Where I Come From!

Happy First Blogoversary to Deborah Andrew at The Sum of All My Research!

Happy Fourth Blogoversary to Granny Pam at Granny’s Genealogy!

Happy First Blogoversary to Lisa Swanson Ellam at The Faces of My Family!

Happy First Blogoversary to Elizabeth at Genealogy Geek!

Happy Blogoversary to Consanguinity!

This week I started following these blogs:

A Few Nuts from the Tree

Barking Up Our Family Tree

Curbow-Montoya Family

For All My Relations

Journey to Recite the Kaddish in Uzlyany

Kentucky Genealogy

Le Maison Duchamp

Our Creative Souls

Search for Family

The Ginger Jewish Genealogist

Amy’s Genealogy, etc. Blog

My Research Week

Quiet but steady. Hope to use the long weekend for research and writing.

I really enjoyed last week's "Who Do You Think You Are?" Tim McGraw's background - the kinds of ancestors he had, where they lived, and their experiences - was the closest to my ancestors of any of the celebrities featured so far. And I am familiar with that "Aw, shucks" reserve - I think the discoveries really made an impression on him.