This Week in Genealogy Blogging
Amen, amen, amen
Kerry Scott at Clue Wagon gives us “5 Reasons You Should Join the National Genealogical Society.” Amen and then some.
The 1977 Blackout
The Brooklyn Historical Blog has a couple of wonderful posts on the New York blackout of 1977: “July 11th-July 14th 1977: The Week a Little Girl was Born in Flatbush, Brooklyn and the Lights Went Out Across NYC: By Chantal Valencia Lawrence” and “The 1977 Blackout.” I wasn’t there, but my husband was.
Some informative posts on Google+
Tamura Jones at Modern Software Experience provides some detailed impressions of the features of Google+ and how they differ from Facebook in “Google+.”
At the Jewish Ginger Genealogist, Banai compares and contrasts Google+, Facebook, and Twitter in “Google+ vs Facebook vs Twitter - 10 Things.” I’m hoping Google+ leaves out the games. Banai follows this up with “Google+ - What’s Missing.”
In “Some Google Plus Commentary,” Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings lists relevant posts, comments on what it is like to use Google+, and cites some of its advantages over Facebook.
At Genealogy by Ginger’s Blog, Ginger Smith lists some good posts on Google+ and adds her own observations in “Google+ ... Geneabloggers are All Abuzz.”
At TransylvanianDutch John Newmark makes some interesting predictions about the future of his participation in Google+ and Facebook in “Who Will Google Kill This Time?”
In “Hanging Out With Google,” Heather Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy gives an in-depth description of her experience hosting a Hangout at Google+: what worked and for whom and what didn’t.
A well-developed idea
At Stardust ‘n’ Roots, Bart “GeneaPopPop" has a thoughtful “list post” on “The Eight Stages of My Genealogical Development.” I think his description is spot on!
A fascinating film
Over at Shades of the Departed, catch the full-length “A Trip Down Market Street,” film footage taken just days before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and read about the research that was able to date the film in “Historic Market Street 1906.”
Paying for free stuff
In “Case Study: Ancestry’s paid and FamilySearch’s open access book images match - WHY?” DearMyrtle presents the smoking gun - smoking images? - pointing to Ancestry’s use of source images that are free elsewhere as part of their “available to paid subscribers only” service, and although there are other possible explanations, Ancestry’s source description doesn’t help their case.
An article on genealogy that quotes Popper
Yeah, Karl Popper. It’s “Genealogy and Science” at J. H. Fonkert’s Four Generations Genealogy. Fonkert believes the question should be not so much what genealogy is as what methods genealogy uses.
An irresistible contest
Not so much for the prize offered, but for the challenge. Check out “Who’s That Girl?” at Maureen Taylor’s Photo Detective. I can’t wait to see what Maureen will come up with.
A word of warning!
“Is that obituary totally factual?” is the question Paula Stuart-Warren at Paula’s Genealogical Eclectica recommends we ask ourselves when we use obituaries as sources of information - and she lists the possible sources of misinformation.
Eye-candy for the genealogist
Wendy Brittain at Shaking Leaves: My Adventures in Genealogy has found lots of ancestor information and some amazing plat maps on Ancestry - I know you map-heads out there are already geeking out - check it out in “Those Places Thursday: Mapping my Family in Marion County, Alabama.”
Great advice
At Genea-Musings, Randy Seaver posts “My Research Problem Solution Advice” - his answer to people who feel they have exhausted online resources. Excellent suggestions here - this should be turned into a FAQ somewhere.
If only a college education could be this inexpensive
Valerie Elkins at Family Cherished has a great list of ways to get an education in genealogy that won’t break the bank in “Getting a Great Genealogical Education for Little or No Money.”
For more suggested blog reading
Check out “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist, “Follow Friday Gems” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds” at Jenn’s Climbinb My Family Tree, and “Week in Review” at John Newmark’s TransylvanianDutch.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
From My Tree Branch To Yours
Piney Woods and Prairie Winds
Genea-Related
Reflections
My Research Week
Other than working on my husband’s family lines this week, I followed up on some odds and ends that popped up on several of my families.
I am still working on bookmarks, Diigo, etc. and this week I mostly continued to fix up the 4 initial categories for my Genealogy Toolboxes (one Toolbox is on the blog, the other one is on Weebly). But I did import my Safari bookmarks (my single largest collection of genealogy bookmarks) from my desktop to my laptop, so that’s real progress.
Showing posts with label Follow Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Follow Friday. Show all posts
Friday, July 15, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 8 July 2011
This Week in Genea-Blogging
Can I redo my education?
At Climbing My Family Tree, Jenn describes how she is incorporating genealogy into her children’s home schooling curriculum in “Genealogy for Kids: Family Tree Notebooking Page.” And there is a bonus in the post - check it out! She follows this up with “Genealogy for Kids: Cemetery Scavenger Hunt.”
A post that really struck home with me
Was Melissa Manon’s “The Value of Cultural Knowledge” at ArchivesInfo. I love that she is teaching her daughter how to think critically and question information that is passed off as fact. This post made me reflect on how much knowing the cultural context has helped me in family history research and how much more cultural knowledge I have acquired through my research.
An outstanding angle on Independence Day
For the 4th of July Leah at Leah’s Family Tree honors some of her “non-combatant” ancestors who did their part in making the United States of America great in “America in My Family Tree.” A perceptive take on our celebration of independence.
A neat map
Presented by A Postcard a Day: “Curiously juxtaposed USA.” Check it out; there are some really excellent town name juxtapositions! You will probably have to click on the map to be able to read the names - it’s worth it.
A neat idea
Presented by Denise Barrett Oleson at Moultrie Creek Gazette: “Build an online family journal with Posterous.” Denise makes an effective case that this is the perfect platform for the technologically-challenged, so I’m definitely interested!
For the rest of you Kentucky-heads out there
J. Mark Lowe has started a series on “Kentucky’s Revolutionary Land Grants - Part 1” at Kentucky & Tennessee Stories. Map included.
A pro with wildcard searches
That’s Lorine McGinnis Shulze at Ask Olive Tree Genealogy a Question. In “Hiding in Plain Sight,” she outlines a case study demonstrating how she finally traced the family of an ancestor with a difficult-to-spell Eastern European name. Brava!
Why don’t we have movies and shows like this already?
At The We Tree Genealogy Blog, Amy Coffin sends up both Hollywood and the genealogy community. And we are laughing hysterically. Read “If Genealogists Ran Hollywood.”
What would you include on the list?
Another thought-provoking post from Marian at Roots and Rambles: “The Top 3 Changes in Genealogy.” Agree/Disagree/Anything to add?
Effective message-boarding
Is described by Deb Ruth of Adventures in Genealogy in "Heard on the Message Board.” She gives some tips for writing an effective query and lists some of the main genealogy message boards.
Last, but never least
Do NOT miss reading the entries for the 107th Carnival of Genealogy - The Seasons of Genealogy at West in New England, hosted by the inimitable Bill West. Outstanding!
For more suggested blog reading,
Check out “Follow Friday on a Saturday” at Cheryl Cayemberg’s Have You Seen My Roots?, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds” at Jenn’s Climbing My Family Tree, “Follow Friday Gems” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy, “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Week in Review” at John Newmark’s TransylvanianDutch, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
365 Days of Genealogy
Greenealogist’s Corner
Unsolved Histories: Adoption and Forensic Genealogy
Thank-You Corner
My thanks to Patti Browning of Consanguinity for leaving a comment on my “Seasons of Genealogy” post to let me know that if I do get to go to Dallas on a research trip I might want to visit the Southwest Branch of the National Archives over in Fort Worth! You bet I’d like to! Thank you for the information, Patti!
I’m very happy to see that one of my favorite bloggers has returned to posting: Amy at They that go down to the sea celebrates the 4th of July with one of the discoveries she made: “Independence Day and genealogy.”
My Research Week
Since “What I Learned Wednesday” (which was yesterday, as I am writing this Thursday evening), there has actually been a little bit more research action.
1. I continue to eat crow concerning the usefulness of shaky leaves on Ancestry Public Member Trees (PMTs). Last night I decided to input a few relatives on the Matlock line, and for the Luney M. Goforth and Malvina Isabella Gracey family that leaf led me to the 1900 census, where I had not been able to find them before. They are listed there as Lemey M. Gofnok and Milvley I. Gofnok. Well, as if their names weren’t already unusual. In turn, I found the oldest of the five children, Thurza, who I knew must exist from the 1910 census (5 living children). However, she wasn’t on the 1910 census with the family, so I didn't know her name or whether she was a boy or a girl; I figured she was already out of the house. And, using her unusual first name and the birth states for her and her parents, I found her with her husband Doc Pitts on the 1910 census. So, I admit it, a shaky leaf helped. I don’t think I would have found the Gofnoks without its help (though I have done some imaginative census searches in my day).
2. Blogger put me into the “new-new” Blogger in Draft today. I didn’t like it, and actually could not navigate to it by selecting “New Post” or “Design.” Turns out they have the URL scrambled, so I just unscrambled it and got into the new version of Blogger in Draft - which I didn’t like. I like to think of myself as traditional, but you can call me primitive (I don’t like New Search, either). So I unchecked the “Make Blogger in Draft my default” box. Still, there seem to be some scrambled posts with messed up pictures, which I have put back into draft form until I can fix them up. Bleghh.
Can I redo my education?
At Climbing My Family Tree, Jenn describes how she is incorporating genealogy into her children’s home schooling curriculum in “Genealogy for Kids: Family Tree Notebooking Page.” And there is a bonus in the post - check it out! She follows this up with “Genealogy for Kids: Cemetery Scavenger Hunt.”
A post that really struck home with me
Was Melissa Manon’s “The Value of Cultural Knowledge” at ArchivesInfo. I love that she is teaching her daughter how to think critically and question information that is passed off as fact. This post made me reflect on how much knowing the cultural context has helped me in family history research and how much more cultural knowledge I have acquired through my research.
An outstanding angle on Independence Day
For the 4th of July Leah at Leah’s Family Tree honors some of her “non-combatant” ancestors who did their part in making the United States of America great in “America in My Family Tree.” A perceptive take on our celebration of independence.
A neat map
Presented by A Postcard a Day: “Curiously juxtaposed USA.” Check it out; there are some really excellent town name juxtapositions! You will probably have to click on the map to be able to read the names - it’s worth it.
A neat idea
Presented by Denise Barrett Oleson at Moultrie Creek Gazette: “Build an online family journal with Posterous.” Denise makes an effective case that this is the perfect platform for the technologically-challenged, so I’m definitely interested!
For the rest of you Kentucky-heads out there
J. Mark Lowe has started a series on “Kentucky’s Revolutionary Land Grants - Part 1” at Kentucky & Tennessee Stories. Map included.
A pro with wildcard searches
That’s Lorine McGinnis Shulze at Ask Olive Tree Genealogy a Question. In “Hiding in Plain Sight,” she outlines a case study demonstrating how she finally traced the family of an ancestor with a difficult-to-spell Eastern European name. Brava!
Why don’t we have movies and shows like this already?
At The We Tree Genealogy Blog, Amy Coffin sends up both Hollywood and the genealogy community. And we are laughing hysterically. Read “If Genealogists Ran Hollywood.”
What would you include on the list?
Another thought-provoking post from Marian at Roots and Rambles: “The Top 3 Changes in Genealogy.” Agree/Disagree/Anything to add?
Effective message-boarding
Is described by Deb Ruth of Adventures in Genealogy in "Heard on the Message Board.” She gives some tips for writing an effective query and lists some of the main genealogy message boards.
Last, but never least
Do NOT miss reading the entries for the 107th Carnival of Genealogy - The Seasons of Genealogy at West in New England, hosted by the inimitable Bill West. Outstanding!
For more suggested blog reading,
Check out “Follow Friday on a Saturday” at Cheryl Cayemberg’s Have You Seen My Roots?, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds” at Jenn’s Climbing My Family Tree, “Follow Friday Gems” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy, “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Week in Review” at John Newmark’s TransylvanianDutch, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
365 Days of Genealogy
Greenealogist’s Corner
Unsolved Histories: Adoption and Forensic Genealogy
Thank-You Corner
My thanks to Patti Browning of Consanguinity for leaving a comment on my “Seasons of Genealogy” post to let me know that if I do get to go to Dallas on a research trip I might want to visit the Southwest Branch of the National Archives over in Fort Worth! You bet I’d like to! Thank you for the information, Patti!
I’m very happy to see that one of my favorite bloggers has returned to posting: Amy at They that go down to the sea celebrates the 4th of July with one of the discoveries she made: “Independence Day and genealogy.”
My Research Week
Since “What I Learned Wednesday” (which was yesterday, as I am writing this Thursday evening), there has actually been a little bit more research action.
1. I continue to eat crow concerning the usefulness of shaky leaves on Ancestry Public Member Trees (PMTs). Last night I decided to input a few relatives on the Matlock line, and for the Luney M. Goforth and Malvina Isabella Gracey family that leaf led me to the 1900 census, where I had not been able to find them before. They are listed there as Lemey M. Gofnok and Milvley I. Gofnok. Well, as if their names weren’t already unusual. In turn, I found the oldest of the five children, Thurza, who I knew must exist from the 1910 census (5 living children). However, she wasn’t on the 1910 census with the family, so I didn't know her name or whether she was a boy or a girl; I figured she was already out of the house. And, using her unusual first name and the birth states for her and her parents, I found her with her husband Doc Pitts on the 1910 census. So, I admit it, a shaky leaf helped. I don’t think I would have found the Gofnoks without its help (though I have done some imaginative census searches in my day).
2. Blogger put me into the “new-new” Blogger in Draft today. I didn’t like it, and actually could not navigate to it by selecting “New Post” or “Design.” Turns out they have the URL scrambled, so I just unscrambled it and got into the new version of Blogger in Draft - which I didn’t like. I like to think of myself as traditional, but you can call me primitive (I don’t like New Search, either). So I unchecked the “Make Blogger in Draft my default” box. Still, there seem to be some scrambled posts with messed up pictures, which I have put back into draft form until I can fix them up. Bleghh.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 1 July 2011
This Week in Genea-Blogging
You tell ‘em!
Dear Myrtle (“21st Century genealogists: how websites are failing us.”) and footnoteMaven (“Making My Way in the World Today Takes Everything I’ve Got”) have gone on a tear this week - a good tear! It’s all about putting citations with images from online websites/sources - if the big websites will not do it, there are ways to do it ourselves.
BillionGraves getting its act together?
In “I’m Finally Using BillionGraves,” Taneya at Taneya’s Genealogy Blog reports on her recent experience with BillionGraves that’s a good deal more positive than some of the initial reports we’ve seen. It seems that BillionGraves has been getting some of the bugs ironed out.
Another viewpoint on BillionGraves.com
This time a negative experience is reported by Valerie Craft in “A Disappointing Day with BillionGraves.com” at Begin with Craft. But there is a positive aspect, too: A representative of BillionGraves.com replies in a comment with an apology and indicates that the necessary update to the app should be available soon.
What happened during those 5 years - check the Freedman’s Bureau records!
Angela Walton-Raji highlights a resource that can shed light on the fates of former slave families during the 1865-1870 period in “From Virginia to Arkansas, and Back to Virginia - A Freedman’s Bureau Migration Story” at My Ancestor’s Name.
A great idea from Marian Pierre-Louis at Roots and Rambles
is “What Exactly Do I Research?” Michael Hait at Planting the Seeds likes the idea and has also written on “What Exactly Do I Research?”
It cannot be emphasized often enough -
“Tuesday’s Tip - Get Connected!” is Deb Ruth’s advice at Adventures in Genealogy this week. She tells how doing this is paying off in her own research.
Thank you to Lorine McGinnis Shulze
of Ask Olive Tree Genealogy a Question. She provided some information in response to a query this week - “Lots of New York Info Found with Wide-spread Search” - that mentioned the website Italiangen.org. I had visited this website before but not checked it out in detail. This time I did. Big-time information information on my husband’s family, and the option of linking to the New York vital records website to pull up the forms to send off for copies. Neat and easy to use.
Walking in our parents’ footsteps
An experience Carol’s Man gets to have over at Reflections from the Fence: “THE Trip, Fort Verde State Historic Park, Man’s Close Encounter With WWII Reenactor.”
Don’t hold back!
At The Armchair Genealogist, Lynn Palermo has some good tips for first-time visitors to archives: “When Fear Holds You Back From Doing Your Best Research!”
And to prove it, a report on first-time experience
Susan Clark of Nolichucky Roots shares “A Newbie’s View of the National Archives - Those Places Thursday.” Okay, well, this wasn’t exactly new news for me - we shared experiences over dinner in DC last Friday! It was a blast - genealogy bloggers are the most interesting and enjoyable people to talk to and I wish I could do stuff like this all the time. Anyway, Susan has good info - the waiting time, getting your stuff in, how nice the staff are - the whole scoop.
There’s a new kid in town ...
Google+. And, of course, Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings will be checking it out and is already trying to figure out “What Will the Google+ Project Mean for Genealogy?” Might be good news for people fed up with Facebook quirks and endless changes.
And over at The Ginger Genealogist, you can read Banai’s opinion in “Google+ - My First Thoughts.”
When your female ancestors are in hiding ...
This week Susan Farrell Bankhead at Susan’s Genealogy Blog has two posts with lots of suggestions on finding female ancestors: “Resources for Finding Females” and “More on Finding Females.”
For more suggested blog reading
Check out “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, “Follow Friday Gems” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
Karen’s Genealogy Oasis
Professor Dru’s Blog
The Tree Ward
McKinney Public Library Genealogy Blog
My Research Week
In my last post, I said that I hadn’t done any research this week. That was true until about 10:00 last night. As I mentioned above, Lorine McGinnis Shulze mentioned the website Italiangen.org, I checked it out, and it filled in lots of information on some of the New York side of my husband’s family: quite a few full dates of birth, death, and marriage and the maiden name of the wife of his great-great uncle Louis Koehl - so now I know all of the spouses of the children of Julius and Josephine Koehl. And there was also information on “persons of interest.” Not bad for an hour and a half of research.
You tell ‘em!
Dear Myrtle (“21st Century genealogists: how websites are failing us.”) and footnoteMaven (“Making My Way in the World Today Takes Everything I’ve Got”) have gone on a tear this week - a good tear! It’s all about putting citations with images from online websites/sources - if the big websites will not do it, there are ways to do it ourselves.
BillionGraves getting its act together?
In “I’m Finally Using BillionGraves,” Taneya at Taneya’s Genealogy Blog reports on her recent experience with BillionGraves that’s a good deal more positive than some of the initial reports we’ve seen. It seems that BillionGraves has been getting some of the bugs ironed out.
Another viewpoint on BillionGraves.com
This time a negative experience is reported by Valerie Craft in “A Disappointing Day with BillionGraves.com” at Begin with Craft. But there is a positive aspect, too: A representative of BillionGraves.com replies in a comment with an apology and indicates that the necessary update to the app should be available soon.
What happened during those 5 years - check the Freedman’s Bureau records!
Angela Walton-Raji highlights a resource that can shed light on the fates of former slave families during the 1865-1870 period in “From Virginia to Arkansas, and Back to Virginia - A Freedman’s Bureau Migration Story” at My Ancestor’s Name.
A great idea from Marian Pierre-Louis at Roots and Rambles
is “What Exactly Do I Research?” Michael Hait at Planting the Seeds likes the idea and has also written on “What Exactly Do I Research?”
It cannot be emphasized often enough -
“Tuesday’s Tip - Get Connected!” is Deb Ruth’s advice at Adventures in Genealogy this week. She tells how doing this is paying off in her own research.
Thank you to Lorine McGinnis Shulze
of Ask Olive Tree Genealogy a Question. She provided some information in response to a query this week - “Lots of New York Info Found with Wide-spread Search” - that mentioned the website Italiangen.org. I had visited this website before but not checked it out in detail. This time I did. Big-time information information on my husband’s family, and the option of linking to the New York vital records website to pull up the forms to send off for copies. Neat and easy to use.
Walking in our parents’ footsteps
An experience Carol’s Man gets to have over at Reflections from the Fence: “THE Trip, Fort Verde State Historic Park, Man’s Close Encounter With WWII Reenactor.”
Don’t hold back!
At The Armchair Genealogist, Lynn Palermo has some good tips for first-time visitors to archives: “When Fear Holds You Back From Doing Your Best Research!”
And to prove it, a report on first-time experience
Susan Clark of Nolichucky Roots shares “A Newbie’s View of the National Archives - Those Places Thursday.” Okay, well, this wasn’t exactly new news for me - we shared experiences over dinner in DC last Friday! It was a blast - genealogy bloggers are the most interesting and enjoyable people to talk to and I wish I could do stuff like this all the time. Anyway, Susan has good info - the waiting time, getting your stuff in, how nice the staff are - the whole scoop.
There’s a new kid in town ...
Google+. And, of course, Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings will be checking it out and is already trying to figure out “What Will the Google+ Project Mean for Genealogy?” Might be good news for people fed up with Facebook quirks and endless changes.
And over at The Ginger Genealogist, you can read Banai’s opinion in “Google+ - My First Thoughts.”
When your female ancestors are in hiding ...
This week Susan Farrell Bankhead at Susan’s Genealogy Blog has two posts with lots of suggestions on finding female ancestors: “Resources for Finding Females” and “More on Finding Females.”
For more suggested blog reading
Check out “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, “Follow Friday Gems” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
Karen’s Genealogy Oasis
Professor Dru’s Blog
The Tree Ward
McKinney Public Library Genealogy Blog
My Research Week
In my last post, I said that I hadn’t done any research this week. That was true until about 10:00 last night. As I mentioned above, Lorine McGinnis Shulze mentioned the website Italiangen.org, I checked it out, and it filled in lots of information on some of the New York side of my husband’s family: quite a few full dates of birth, death, and marriage and the maiden name of the wife of his great-great uncle Louis Koehl - so now I know all of the spouses of the children of Julius and Josephine Koehl. And there was also information on “persons of interest.” Not bad for an hour and a half of research.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 24 June 2011
This Week in Genea-Blogging
Next best thing to being there
There were many enjoyable posts last week on the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, and this week the experience was beautifully summed up by Donna Pointkouski at What’s Past Is Prologue in “10 Things I Learned at Jamboree.”
I’m going there when I grow up
In a similar vein, there have been several blog posts about the Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research at Samford. Several excellent posts on this topic were written by Susan Farrell Bankhead at Susan’s Genealogy Blog; her final post, “Samford 2011: Recap,” provides a good summary of this experience.
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun provokes interesting debate
Over at Genea-Musings, Randy waxes philosophical in response to a couple of comments left on his most recent Saturday Night Genealogy Fun in “Thoughts on Classical and Scientific Genealogy.” The potential for debates of this types is one of the many things that makes it interesting to be a member of the genealogy blogging community. This has led to further posts on the subject, which are listed in Randy’s second post on the subject, “More Thoughts on ‘Scientific’ and ‘Traditional’ Genealogy.”
From a legal point of view
James Tanner at Genealogy’s Star is starting a series wherein he discusses evidence and proof in genealogical from the viewpoint of their original context, the law; first post: “What is evidence? What is proof?”
I like the happy ending of this story
Jenny Lanctot at Are My Roots Showing? tells the story of how she looked and looked and may finally have found the genealogical society that is right for her in “I Finally Joined a Local Genealogy Society.”
And another happy ending!
Missy Corley at Bayside Blog has great news: “The Friends Album Has Found a Home!” We have been following Missy’s extraordinary work with this album, and this is the happiest of endings to the story.
What say ye?
Heather Kuhn Roelker at Leaves for Trees has suggested that “What we need is a genealogy blogger research database, don’t you see?” Sounds like a good idea, and Thomas Macentee’s idea for the form it would take looks good, too. So what do you all think?
I’ll tell you about mine if you’ll tell me about yours
At Roots and Rambles, Marian Pierre-Louis has posted “The Top 5 Books on My Bookshelf,” which I think would be an interesting topic for a genealogy blogging meme - Saturday Night Fun, anyone (Randy)?
Why hide and seek is our favorite game
Susan Farrell Bankhead has listed some common reasons why you can’t find your ancestors and strategies for finding them anyway in “Census 103: Family Members Missing in Action” at Susan’s Genealogy Blog. Yup, I’ve encountered all of these reasons and used all of these strategies. Things have improved with member-submitted corrections and “updated and improved” indexing of the censuses, but we still need to keep these approaches in mind.
Why didn’t they teach history like this at my high school?
In “Ancestry and Academics,” Kathleen Brandt of a3 Genealogy tells about her experience in using genealogy and family history to get students involved in learning - and not just history! I am fascinated by this classroom approach and think that this is a great idea for use in the classroom.
For more suggested blog reading
Check out “Follow Friday: This Week’s Finds” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist, and “Follow Friday Gems” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
Emmasology
Family Pilgrimage
Lessons Learned in Genealogy Research
Nuts from the Family Tree
Next best thing to being there
There were many enjoyable posts last week on the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, and this week the experience was beautifully summed up by Donna Pointkouski at What’s Past Is Prologue in “10 Things I Learned at Jamboree.”
I’m going there when I grow up
In a similar vein, there have been several blog posts about the Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research at Samford. Several excellent posts on this topic were written by Susan Farrell Bankhead at Susan’s Genealogy Blog; her final post, “Samford 2011: Recap,” provides a good summary of this experience.
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun provokes interesting debate
Over at Genea-Musings, Randy waxes philosophical in response to a couple of comments left on his most recent Saturday Night Genealogy Fun in “Thoughts on Classical and Scientific Genealogy.” The potential for debates of this types is one of the many things that makes it interesting to be a member of the genealogy blogging community. This has led to further posts on the subject, which are listed in Randy’s second post on the subject, “More Thoughts on ‘Scientific’ and ‘Traditional’ Genealogy.”
From a legal point of view
James Tanner at Genealogy’s Star is starting a series wherein he discusses evidence and proof in genealogical from the viewpoint of their original context, the law; first post: “What is evidence? What is proof?”
I like the happy ending of this story
Jenny Lanctot at Are My Roots Showing? tells the story of how she looked and looked and may finally have found the genealogical society that is right for her in “I Finally Joined a Local Genealogy Society.”
And another happy ending!
Missy Corley at Bayside Blog has great news: “The Friends Album Has Found a Home!” We have been following Missy’s extraordinary work with this album, and this is the happiest of endings to the story.
What say ye?
Heather Kuhn Roelker at Leaves for Trees has suggested that “What we need is a genealogy blogger research database, don’t you see?” Sounds like a good idea, and Thomas Macentee’s idea for the form it would take looks good, too. So what do you all think?
I’ll tell you about mine if you’ll tell me about yours
At Roots and Rambles, Marian Pierre-Louis has posted “The Top 5 Books on My Bookshelf,” which I think would be an interesting topic for a genealogy blogging meme - Saturday Night Fun, anyone (Randy)?
Why hide and seek is our favorite game
Susan Farrell Bankhead has listed some common reasons why you can’t find your ancestors and strategies for finding them anyway in “Census 103: Family Members Missing in Action” at Susan’s Genealogy Blog. Yup, I’ve encountered all of these reasons and used all of these strategies. Things have improved with member-submitted corrections and “updated and improved” indexing of the censuses, but we still need to keep these approaches in mind.
Why didn’t they teach history like this at my high school?
In “Ancestry and Academics,” Kathleen Brandt of a3 Genealogy tells about her experience in using genealogy and family history to get students involved in learning - and not just history! I am fascinated by this classroom approach and think that this is a great idea for use in the classroom.
For more suggested blog reading
Check out “Follow Friday: This Week’s Finds” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist, and “Follow Friday Gems” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
Emmasology
Family Pilgrimage
Lessons Learned in Genealogy Research
Nuts from the Family Tree
Friday, June 17, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 17 June 2011
This Week in Genea-Blogging
This was a great week for posts from the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, and now the posts from IGHR at Samford have started - too many to list here, but keep your eye out!
If only I were this organized...
The New Genealogist shares his/her experience in “Keeping track of [resultless] searches.” Good advice, good methodology.
Bury me there
J. D. Wilson at Stone Gardens has featured an unusual type of graveyard: “Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard, Waterbury, Vermont.”
Some addictions are good!
Geniaus tells us why she is “Addicted to the Tablet.” She has provided so many reasons and illustrations for her addiction that I may move that iPad up a notch (= forward a year) on my Christmas list.
Got any good suggestions for Patti?
That would be Patti Browning at Consanguinity, who offers to give “My Kingdom for a Good Genealogy Flowchart Program.” There are some good suggestions in the comments, too.
Which is best for you?
At Family Search’s TechTips, Denise Barrett Olson discusses the most common web browsers and which features set them apart from one another in "The Web Browser" - very useful information for the genealogist who wants to maximize effectiveness in web use.
Randy has quite a long list....
and that’s not a good thing in this case, because it is a list of “Some Sparsely Indexed Census Databases on Ancestry.com.” I have suspected this of some of Ancestry’s card catalog databases I have used. Another gripe I have is about mis-indexing, particularly in the case of the World War I Draft Registration Cards. Several times I have clicked on a link for an ancestor’s card, only to pull up someone else’s card. I realized right away that I just had to keep clicking on the forward or backward arrow to find my ancestors’ cards, but still, it’s irritating.
Carol also has a list - a little list - and she’s making it work for her
At Reflections from the Fence, Carol has figured out how to get the most out of the To Do lists and events list function in her Roots Magic program - check it out in “The Small To Do List - How to Stretch It.”
A question and an answer
Tonia Kendrick at Tonia’s Genealogy asks and answers the question “What can you learn from a DAR application?” She provides an excellent overview of what you most likely will and will not find and gives examples from her own ancestor’s application.
Interesting question and comments
At Marian’s Roots and Rambles, Marian Pierre-Louis’ question “Do You Prefer Books or Microfilm?” elicits some thoughtful answers, and she has an interesting take on how she plans to combine the two to best effect.
For more suggested blog reading,
check out “Follow Friday Gems” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following This Blog:
Leaves of Heritage Genealogy
This was a great week for posts from the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, and now the posts from IGHR at Samford have started - too many to list here, but keep your eye out!
If only I were this organized...
The New Genealogist shares his/her experience in “Keeping track of [resultless] searches.” Good advice, good methodology.
Bury me there
J. D. Wilson at Stone Gardens has featured an unusual type of graveyard: “Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard, Waterbury, Vermont.”
Some addictions are good!
Geniaus tells us why she is “Addicted to the Tablet.” She has provided so many reasons and illustrations for her addiction that I may move that iPad up a notch (= forward a year) on my Christmas list.
Got any good suggestions for Patti?
That would be Patti Browning at Consanguinity, who offers to give “My Kingdom for a Good Genealogy Flowchart Program.” There are some good suggestions in the comments, too.
Which is best for you?
At Family Search’s TechTips, Denise Barrett Olson discusses the most common web browsers and which features set them apart from one another in "The Web Browser" - very useful information for the genealogist who wants to maximize effectiveness in web use.
Randy has quite a long list....
and that’s not a good thing in this case, because it is a list of “Some Sparsely Indexed Census Databases on Ancestry.com.” I have suspected this of some of Ancestry’s card catalog databases I have used. Another gripe I have is about mis-indexing, particularly in the case of the World War I Draft Registration Cards. Several times I have clicked on a link for an ancestor’s card, only to pull up someone else’s card. I realized right away that I just had to keep clicking on the forward or backward arrow to find my ancestors’ cards, but still, it’s irritating.
Carol also has a list - a little list - and she’s making it work for her
At Reflections from the Fence, Carol has figured out how to get the most out of the To Do lists and events list function in her Roots Magic program - check it out in “The Small To Do List - How to Stretch It.”
A question and an answer
Tonia Kendrick at Tonia’s Genealogy asks and answers the question “What can you learn from a DAR application?” She provides an excellent overview of what you most likely will and will not find and gives examples from her own ancestor’s application.
Interesting question and comments
At Marian’s Roots and Rambles, Marian Pierre-Louis’ question “Do You Prefer Books or Microfilm?” elicits some thoughtful answers, and she has an interesting take on how she plans to combine the two to best effect.
For more suggested blog reading,
check out “Follow Friday Gems” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following This Blog:
Leaves of Heritage Genealogy
Friday, June 10, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 10 June 2011
This Week in Genea-Blogging
The Carnival is in town!
Check out the 106th Carnival of Genealogy at Jasia’s Creative Gene!
Maps are fun
I really need to get back to using Google Maps in my research. And, luckily for me, there is a post at pursuits of a desperate genie to refresh my skills: “how to use google maps to make a custom genealogy map.”
Language geek alert!
Lisa at A Light That Shines Again has reposted a great article on the particularities of the Irish version of English: “Language fun ‘galore’: Working on my Hiberno-English.”
Don’t forget to backup your phone
A lesson learned by The Scrappy Genealogist and described in “Scrappy Gen Gets Organized - Backup Smackdown Meets Lookout.”
Don’t overlook, don’t forget
Marian Pierre-Louis at Marian’s Roots and Rambles asks “Are You Reading the Right Journals?” There is a faithful old resource that we often overlook....
Illinois Prison Camps During the Civil War
Kathleen Brandt at a3 Genealogy has been doing a wonderful series on prisoner-of-war camps in Illinois during the Civil War; this week her post covers Camp Douglas, a camp that has been referred to as the “Andersonville of the North”: “Illinois Civil War POW Camp - Part 3.” William Spencer Moore, my great-great grandfather’s nephew who was named for him, spent the last six months of the war in this camp.
Genealogy + History + Liberia + Virginia = Fascinating
Mel Wolfgang at Mnemosyne’s Magic Mirror has written a fascinating post on delving deeper into the records, finding rich but little-known resources, and learning about a fascinating episode in history in “Researching at the Library of Virginia: A Tale of Slaves & Bacon.”
Another excellent post from Mel is “Book People Take Notice: The Internet Archive Gets ‘Physical,’” wherein he urges actual physical preservation of books and documents as opposed to digitization and describes the efforts taken in this area by Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive.
How many of these do you recognize/are you guilty of?
Daniel Hubbard delves into the “Seven Deadly Genealogical Sins” at Personal Past Meditations. I’m not admitting to any....
Postcards tell the story
If you haven’t been following “The Courtship of Esther” series at Lisa’s blog, Are You My Cousin?, you should be. Vintage postcards tell the story of a young lady with many suitors. The latest installments as I write this are “Part 4” and “Part 5.”
The answer is: family pictures - or grandma’s quilts - or....
Kerry at Clue Wagon tells us, “Your House is on Fire” and asks us what we would take with us. JLog (“Nothing’s On Fire Over Here”), Susan at Nolichucky Roots (“2011.5”), Nick at Nick Gombash’s Genealogy Blog (“What If Your House Was On Fire?”), Elyse at Elyse’s Genealogy Blog (“My House is on Fire”), Deb Ruth at Adventures in Genealogy (“What Would You Grab?”), Daniel at Indiana Dillmans (“What Would You Grab?”), and Missy at Bayside Blog (“Treasure Chest Thursday: My House is on Fire”) have some excellent answers.
Some humor for the week
At Genealogy’s Star, “What if genealogists were like some of the other professionals?” hits rather too close to home....
Stories of the Storm
At Heritage Zen, Cynthia Shenette writes of her mother’s recollections of “The Worcester Tornado, June 9, 1953.” As someone who lived in Tornado Alley, I remember many stories of tornados in our area of Texas, but Cynthia’s story is a chilling reminder that no one is ever completely safe from these monsters.
For more suggested blog reading,
Check out “Follow Friday” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Best Bytes for the Week” at Elizabeth O’Neal’s Little Bytes of Life, “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist, and “Follow Friday” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
The Apprentice Genealogist
Anne’s Genealogy and Family History Blog
How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey
Lundology
My family’s tangled roots
Susan’s Genealogy Blog
Garrison Family Roots Blog
My Research Week
was pretty much described in What I Learned Wednesday. Not a bad week.
The Carnival is in town!
Check out the 106th Carnival of Genealogy at Jasia’s Creative Gene!
Maps are fun
I really need to get back to using Google Maps in my research. And, luckily for me, there is a post at pursuits of a desperate genie to refresh my skills: “how to use google maps to make a custom genealogy map.”
Language geek alert!
Lisa at A Light That Shines Again has reposted a great article on the particularities of the Irish version of English: “Language fun ‘galore’: Working on my Hiberno-English.”
Don’t forget to backup your phone
A lesson learned by The Scrappy Genealogist and described in “Scrappy Gen Gets Organized - Backup Smackdown Meets Lookout.”
Don’t overlook, don’t forget
Marian Pierre-Louis at Marian’s Roots and Rambles asks “Are You Reading the Right Journals?” There is a faithful old resource that we often overlook....
Illinois Prison Camps During the Civil War
Kathleen Brandt at a3 Genealogy has been doing a wonderful series on prisoner-of-war camps in Illinois during the Civil War; this week her post covers Camp Douglas, a camp that has been referred to as the “Andersonville of the North”: “Illinois Civil War POW Camp - Part 3.” William Spencer Moore, my great-great grandfather’s nephew who was named for him, spent the last six months of the war in this camp.
Genealogy + History + Liberia + Virginia = Fascinating
Mel Wolfgang at Mnemosyne’s Magic Mirror has written a fascinating post on delving deeper into the records, finding rich but little-known resources, and learning about a fascinating episode in history in “Researching at the Library of Virginia: A Tale of Slaves & Bacon.”
Another excellent post from Mel is “Book People Take Notice: The Internet Archive Gets ‘Physical,’” wherein he urges actual physical preservation of books and documents as opposed to digitization and describes the efforts taken in this area by Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive.
How many of these do you recognize/are you guilty of?
Daniel Hubbard delves into the “Seven Deadly Genealogical Sins” at Personal Past Meditations. I’m not admitting to any....
Postcards tell the story
If you haven’t been following “The Courtship of Esther” series at Lisa’s blog, Are You My Cousin?, you should be. Vintage postcards tell the story of a young lady with many suitors. The latest installments as I write this are “Part 4” and “Part 5.”
The answer is: family pictures - or grandma’s quilts - or....
Kerry at Clue Wagon tells us, “Your House is on Fire” and asks us what we would take with us. JLog (“Nothing’s On Fire Over Here”), Susan at Nolichucky Roots (“2011.5”), Nick at Nick Gombash’s Genealogy Blog (“What If Your House Was On Fire?”), Elyse at Elyse’s Genealogy Blog (“My House is on Fire”), Deb Ruth at Adventures in Genealogy (“What Would You Grab?”), Daniel at Indiana Dillmans (“What Would You Grab?”), and Missy at Bayside Blog (“Treasure Chest Thursday: My House is on Fire”) have some excellent answers.
Some humor for the week
At Genealogy’s Star, “What if genealogists were like some of the other professionals?” hits rather too close to home....
Stories of the Storm
At Heritage Zen, Cynthia Shenette writes of her mother’s recollections of “The Worcester Tornado, June 9, 1953.” As someone who lived in Tornado Alley, I remember many stories of tornados in our area of Texas, but Cynthia’s story is a chilling reminder that no one is ever completely safe from these monsters.
For more suggested blog reading,
Check out “Follow Friday” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Best Bytes for the Week” at Elizabeth O’Neal’s Little Bytes of Life, “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist, and “Follow Friday” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
The Apprentice Genealogist
Anne’s Genealogy and Family History Blog
How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey
Lundology
My family’s tangled roots
Susan’s Genealogy Blog
Garrison Family Roots Blog
My Research Week
was pretty much described in What I Learned Wednesday. Not a bad week.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 3 June 2011
This Week in Genea-Blogging
I’ve been off my game....
A major omission of last week’s “Follow Friday Newsletter” consisted of two wonderful posts at Shades of the Departed: “Shades and the Overstuffed Baby Make a Connection” and “The Overstuffed Baby Comes Full Circle!”
A pensive post for the Memorial Day weekend....
and one of my favorite posts this week is Susan Clark’s “Our Places - Those Places Thursday” at Nolichucky Roots.
The debate is on!
New Search vs. Old Search! Bill West at West in New England has cast down the gauntlet in “Confessions of a Genealogical Fuddyduddy.” Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings takes up the challenge in “Navigating Old and New Search on Ancestry.com - Post 1: New Search, Advanced Form.” Sorry, Randy. I’m with Bill on this one.
Watch the little progress bar
Check out JLog’s post on New Family Search and Legacy integration: “New Family Search: Combining Duplicates.” A good explanation of how the process works.
The title says it all
“Genea-Blogging Works!” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings. Amen on that one, Randy. For some examples of this, just for instance, check out “Alfred and the Experts” at Carol’s Reflections from the Fence (which, of course, was inspired by Bill West’s Civil War Challenge at West in New England). And a second (!) post this week from Randy on this subject: “Geneablogging Works: Bloodgood Family Information.”
Courthousely Etiquette
At Staats Place, Chris Staats posts some thoughts on models for proper researcher behavior in courthouses and the like in “Beep, beep! Researcher Coming Through!!”
What is an RAOVGGK?
Find out at 2338 W. Washington Blvd., where Margel explains it for you in, what else, “RAOVGGK.” Fantastic story!
Some stories, some history, some mysteries
In “Using Cemeteries to Learn Local History,” Kathleen Brandt answers some questions and raises others at a3 Genealogy.
More excellent suggestions on using Findagrave
From Beth at Beth’s Genealogy Blog: “Ways I Use One of My Favorite Sites, Findagrave.”
A quandary
At A Patient Genealogist, D Lee’s Tech Tuesday post asks the question: “How do I protect my family?” When you have the opportunity to meet up with a research cousin and share information - but have to provide some of your own personal information to do so - what do you do?
Interviews, Sanborn Maps, and iTunes
See how Daniel Hubbard uses these together in “Interview with Dad” at Personal Past Meditations.
I’ve always wondered ...
... where you go to find old family Bibles if you are not aware of any that your family has. Jack Butler of Genealogy Jack has some suggestions for how to go about this in “Tuesday’s Tip: Finding All Our Grandmothers - Family Bibles.”
Why the more, the merrier and the better...
... is summed up very nicely by Ian Hadden in “Facebook Genealogy” at Ian Hadden’s Family History.
How to get the young-uns interested:
One very promising approach is described by Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy Blog in “I Spy With My Genealogy Eye.”
“Who got you started in genealogy?”
Jennifer Geraghty-Gorman at On a flesh and bone foundation gives one of the most beautiful answers to this question that I have ever read in “Thankful Thursday: My start in Family History? Two Conversations.”
Get a life ... whoever: More educational/enjoyable/funny/etc. posts on source citations:
“Inflaming Source Citation Passions” at Genea-Musings
Planting the Seeds: “Source Citations: Getting it ‘Right,’ part one” and “Source Citations: Getting it ‘Right,’ part two”
“The Perfect Citation Storm” at Genealogy’s Star
Some reviews of BillionGraves.com:
Amy’s Genealogy, etc. Blog: “Review of BillionGraves.com” and “Review of BillionGraves.com - Part 2.”
Blood and Frogs: “For Memorial Day, BillionGraves App/Site Launches”
Are My Roots Showing?: “BillionGraves.com - Competition for Find-A-Grave?”
Find My Ancestor Blog: “Mobile Monday - BillionGraves” and “Billion Graves - Taking High Quality Photos”
Taneya’s Genealogy Blog: “A Glimpse at BillionGraves.com”
Nutfield Genealogy: “BillionGraves.com Review”
And a number of posts at Midge Frazel’s Granite in my Blood.
For more suggested blog reading ...
Check out “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Follow Friday” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy, “Best Bytes of the Week” at Elizabeth O’Neal’s Little Bytes of Life, “Follow Friday” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
Kith and Kin Research
Indiana Dillmans
McManigle Family
My Research Week
Must not assume all digital documents on Ancestry/FamilySearch are single pages - Apple figured out that the reference to Lora Mae Scott on the death certificate for her son Roy Duckworth was on the second page. Thank you, Apple!
Researching the Brinlee family - at least the known branches - should be easy. There is a lot of material out there, particularly some early articles published in county histories, journals, and so forth. But it turns out a lot of this information is incomplete and has mistakes. The Richard Mason Brinlee family is turning out to be a real “bog”! I believe that his first child is incorrectly attributed to his first wife. The Brinlees are sort of halfway in between some of my well-researched, well-documented family lines and the lines for which I am largely breaking new ground - and harder than both, because I am having to prove and disprove so much of what has been written about this family.
More enjoyable interaction and trading information with cousins this week - will write more about this later!
Still catching up with post-conference “busyness.” Last task still to be completed - send digital images of a couple of Brinlee Confederate Pension applications to the gentlemen who publishes Civil War unit histories so that he can link them up to the Fifth Texas Partisan Rangers.
Most aggravating experience of the week: Not being able to get into my blog to make posts, etc. Tried several times, jumped through several hoops. Posted problem on Facebook. Thought "What the heck, let's try Safari instead of Firefox." That worked. Friends on Facebook also suggested Chrome. I'm gonna have all of these browsers with all sorts of different bookmarks - one of a number of reasons why having a Research Toolbox is a good idea.
I’ve been off my game....
A major omission of last week’s “Follow Friday Newsletter” consisted of two wonderful posts at Shades of the Departed: “Shades and the Overstuffed Baby Make a Connection” and “The Overstuffed Baby Comes Full Circle!”
A pensive post for the Memorial Day weekend....
and one of my favorite posts this week is Susan Clark’s “Our Places - Those Places Thursday” at Nolichucky Roots.
The debate is on!
New Search vs. Old Search! Bill West at West in New England has cast down the gauntlet in “Confessions of a Genealogical Fuddyduddy.” Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings takes up the challenge in “Navigating Old and New Search on Ancestry.com - Post 1: New Search, Advanced Form.” Sorry, Randy. I’m with Bill on this one.
Watch the little progress bar
Check out JLog’s post on New Family Search and Legacy integration: “New Family Search: Combining Duplicates.” A good explanation of how the process works.
The title says it all
“Genea-Blogging Works!” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings. Amen on that one, Randy. For some examples of this, just for instance, check out “Alfred and the Experts” at Carol’s Reflections from the Fence (which, of course, was inspired by Bill West’s Civil War Challenge at West in New England). And a second (!) post this week from Randy on this subject: “Geneablogging Works: Bloodgood Family Information.”
Courthousely Etiquette
At Staats Place, Chris Staats posts some thoughts on models for proper researcher behavior in courthouses and the like in “Beep, beep! Researcher Coming Through!!”
What is an RAOVGGK?
Find out at 2338 W. Washington Blvd., where Margel explains it for you in, what else, “RAOVGGK.” Fantastic story!
Some stories, some history, some mysteries
In “Using Cemeteries to Learn Local History,” Kathleen Brandt answers some questions and raises others at a3 Genealogy.
More excellent suggestions on using Findagrave
From Beth at Beth’s Genealogy Blog: “Ways I Use One of My Favorite Sites, Findagrave.”
A quandary
At A Patient Genealogist, D Lee’s Tech Tuesday post asks the question: “How do I protect my family?” When you have the opportunity to meet up with a research cousin and share information - but have to provide some of your own personal information to do so - what do you do?
Interviews, Sanborn Maps, and iTunes
See how Daniel Hubbard uses these together in “Interview with Dad” at Personal Past Meditations.
I’ve always wondered ...
... where you go to find old family Bibles if you are not aware of any that your family has. Jack Butler of Genealogy Jack has some suggestions for how to go about this in “Tuesday’s Tip: Finding All Our Grandmothers - Family Bibles.”
Why the more, the merrier and the better...
... is summed up very nicely by Ian Hadden in “Facebook Genealogy” at Ian Hadden’s Family History.
How to get the young-uns interested:
One very promising approach is described by Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy Blog in “I Spy With My Genealogy Eye.”
“Who got you started in genealogy?”
Jennifer Geraghty-Gorman at On a flesh and bone foundation gives one of the most beautiful answers to this question that I have ever read in “Thankful Thursday: My start in Family History? Two Conversations.”
Get a life ... whoever: More educational/enjoyable/funny/etc. posts on source citations:
“Inflaming Source Citation Passions” at Genea-Musings
Planting the Seeds: “Source Citations: Getting it ‘Right,’ part one” and “Source Citations: Getting it ‘Right,’ part two”
“The Perfect Citation Storm” at Genealogy’s Star
Some reviews of BillionGraves.com:
Amy’s Genealogy, etc. Blog: “Review of BillionGraves.com” and “Review of BillionGraves.com - Part 2.”
Blood and Frogs: “For Memorial Day, BillionGraves App/Site Launches”
Are My Roots Showing?: “BillionGraves.com - Competition for Find-A-Grave?”
Find My Ancestor Blog: “Mobile Monday - BillionGraves” and “Billion Graves - Taking High Quality Photos”
Taneya’s Genealogy Blog: “A Glimpse at BillionGraves.com”
Nutfield Genealogy: “BillionGraves.com Review”
And a number of posts at Midge Frazel’s Granite in my Blood.
For more suggested blog reading ...
Check out “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Follow Friday” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy, “Best Bytes of the Week” at Elizabeth O’Neal’s Little Bytes of Life, “Follow Friday” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
Kith and Kin Research
Indiana Dillmans
McManigle Family
My Research Week
Must not assume all digital documents on Ancestry/FamilySearch are single pages - Apple figured out that the reference to Lora Mae Scott on the death certificate for her son Roy Duckworth was on the second page. Thank you, Apple!
Researching the Brinlee family - at least the known branches - should be easy. There is a lot of material out there, particularly some early articles published in county histories, journals, and so forth. But it turns out a lot of this information is incomplete and has mistakes. The Richard Mason Brinlee family is turning out to be a real “bog”! I believe that his first child is incorrectly attributed to his first wife. The Brinlees are sort of halfway in between some of my well-researched, well-documented family lines and the lines for which I am largely breaking new ground - and harder than both, because I am having to prove and disprove so much of what has been written about this family.
More enjoyable interaction and trading information with cousins this week - will write more about this later!
Still catching up with post-conference “busyness.” Last task still to be completed - send digital images of a couple of Brinlee Confederate Pension applications to the gentlemen who publishes Civil War unit histories so that he can link them up to the Fifth Texas Partisan Rangers.
Most aggravating experience of the week: Not being able to get into my blog to make posts, etc. Tried several times, jumped through several hoops. Posted problem on Facebook. Thought "What the heck, let's try Safari instead of Firefox." That worked. Friends on Facebook also suggested Chrome. I'm gonna have all of these browsers with all sorts of different bookmarks - one of a number of reasons why having a Research Toolbox is a good idea.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 27 May 2011
I will start this post off with an apology. In one of my NGS Conference posts I asked a question, then left the people who posted their answers hanging without the correct answer.
The question? “What crop accounted for more than half of the South’s agricultural output in the 1850s?”
The answer: Corn. (The reason - the lucrative livestock industry.)
This Week in Genea-Blogging:
Two for Salt Lake City
Becky Wiseman of kinnexions and Carol of Reflections from the Fence are having one of those ideal genea-experiences: researching in Salt Lake City and getting to share it with a kindred spirit! And check out Carol's method for refiling film at the FHL in "The Easy Way to Refile Film, Salt Lake City."
And now four genea-bloggers have met up: Becky found Cheri Hopkins and Ruby Coleman - the You Go Genealogy Girls - at the Family History Library! See "What a Delight They Are!"
And speaking of “two”
I love it when great genea-minds team up - and we have another Dynamic Duo in our midst: Laura from It’s All Relative and Jenny Lanctot from Are My Roots Showing? Wishing you ladies great success in your endeavors. I’ve thought of doing this myself, but I know that I am at a point of really low self-discipline and wouldn’t want to “bring the team down.”
Thanks for the reminder!
An announcement was made during NGS Charleston that some major South Carolina collections (South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964 and South Carolina Probate Records, Bound Volumes, 1671-1977), but I had not gotten around to looking at them until I saw Marilyn Reed Thompson’s post “Digitized Treasures” at Samuel and Mary Clark Reed of Barnwell. She is correct in her assessment that this is really big - from just casual browsing I have found files of a couple of “allied families” to my Moores, including mentions of my ggg-grandfther Samuel Moore. Thanks, Marilyn!
One of those resources you must never overlook...
Findagrave. Susan Petersen at Long Lost Relatives.net reminds us, “Are You Making Full Use of Findagrave?” Information and photos are continuously being added to the site, so unless you check regularly, you may miss something!
What is family?
Christopher Shaw raises some interesting questions at Diggin’ for Family about covering the lines of adoptive parents in our research in “Blood is not Always Thicker when it comes to Family.”
Why digitized and micofilmed records are not enough
is discussed by Michael Hait at Planting the Seeds in “Are my sources original? Who cares?” This week Michael also continues his series on source citations with “Source Citations: Why Form Matters, part two” and “Source Citations: Why Form Matters, part three.” He begins with a review of recent blog posts on the subject and discusses the points raised in these posts.
Amy Coffin asks
“Should I Join My Local Genealogy Society?” at We Tree. Check out the reasons for her positive answer.
She takes genealogy seriously - very seriously
Do check out Katie O.’s post on “When a Family History Nerd Gets Married: The Bachelorette Party” at You Are Where You Came From. There’s definitely hope for the younger generation.
Having a little bit of conference withdrawal?
Check out Cheri Daniels’ slide show of the NGS Conference in Charleston in “Sun, Surf, and Surnames” at Journeys Past.
This week I started following these blogs:
Reflections on Genealogy
Claiming Kin
Diggin’ for Family
Forget-Me-Not Ancestry
Green Eyed Look-a-Like
Jottings, Journeys and Genealogy
Onward to our Past
Search Tip of the Day
The Heritage Files
Theories of Relativity
The Genealogy Geeks
My Research Week
This has been another great week for genea-angels and angels of other types. First, Jay Odom sent me information on a mystery relative. I continued to exchange Norman information and photographs with my cousin Rebecca. And a wonderful (but anonymous) genea-angel did a lookup and copied some information for me (thank you!).
Please don’t let anything happen for a while to cloud up my rose-colored glasses.
The question? “What crop accounted for more than half of the South’s agricultural output in the 1850s?”
The answer: Corn. (The reason - the lucrative livestock industry.)
This Week in Genea-Blogging:
Two for Salt Lake City
Becky Wiseman of kinnexions and Carol of Reflections from the Fence are having one of those ideal genea-experiences: researching in Salt Lake City and getting to share it with a kindred spirit! And check out Carol's method for refiling film at the FHL in "The Easy Way to Refile Film, Salt Lake City."
And now four genea-bloggers have met up: Becky found Cheri Hopkins and Ruby Coleman - the You Go Genealogy Girls - at the Family History Library! See "What a Delight They Are!"
And speaking of “two”
I love it when great genea-minds team up - and we have another Dynamic Duo in our midst: Laura from It’s All Relative and Jenny Lanctot from Are My Roots Showing? Wishing you ladies great success in your endeavors. I’ve thought of doing this myself, but I know that I am at a point of really low self-discipline and wouldn’t want to “bring the team down.”
Thanks for the reminder!
An announcement was made during NGS Charleston that some major South Carolina collections (South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964 and South Carolina Probate Records, Bound Volumes, 1671-1977), but I had not gotten around to looking at them until I saw Marilyn Reed Thompson’s post “Digitized Treasures” at Samuel and Mary Clark Reed of Barnwell. She is correct in her assessment that this is really big - from just casual browsing I have found files of a couple of “allied families” to my Moores, including mentions of my ggg-grandfther Samuel Moore. Thanks, Marilyn!
One of those resources you must never overlook...
Findagrave. Susan Petersen at Long Lost Relatives.net reminds us, “Are You Making Full Use of Findagrave?” Information and photos are continuously being added to the site, so unless you check regularly, you may miss something!
What is family?
Christopher Shaw raises some interesting questions at Diggin’ for Family about covering the lines of adoptive parents in our research in “Blood is not Always Thicker when it comes to Family.”
Why digitized and micofilmed records are not enough
is discussed by Michael Hait at Planting the Seeds in “Are my sources original? Who cares?” This week Michael also continues his series on source citations with “Source Citations: Why Form Matters, part two” and “Source Citations: Why Form Matters, part three.” He begins with a review of recent blog posts on the subject and discusses the points raised in these posts.
Amy Coffin asks
“Should I Join My Local Genealogy Society?” at We Tree. Check out the reasons for her positive answer.
She takes genealogy seriously - very seriously
Do check out Katie O.’s post on “When a Family History Nerd Gets Married: The Bachelorette Party” at You Are Where You Came From. There’s definitely hope for the younger generation.
Having a little bit of conference withdrawal?
Check out Cheri Daniels’ slide show of the NGS Conference in Charleston in “Sun, Surf, and Surnames” at Journeys Past.
This week I started following these blogs:
Reflections on Genealogy
Claiming Kin
Diggin’ for Family
Forget-Me-Not Ancestry
Green Eyed Look-a-Like
Jottings, Journeys and Genealogy
Onward to our Past
Search Tip of the Day
The Heritage Files
Theories of Relativity
The Genealogy Geeks
My Research Week
This has been another great week for genea-angels and angels of other types. First, Jay Odom sent me information on a mystery relative. I continued to exchange Norman information and photographs with my cousin Rebecca. And a wonderful (but anonymous) genea-angel did a lookup and copied some information for me (thank you!).
Please don’t let anything happen for a while to cloud up my rose-colored glasses.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 6 May 2011
This Week in Genea-Blogging
I wanna be the dude with the super-duper computer!
In “Part VI: Profiling Your Ancestors,” Heather Doherty at Good to Know compares the genealogists’ search to the work of investigators featured on well-known TV crime dramas. Some pretty good parallels there....
Blogger connections
are fascinating. Read how Linda Gartz at Family Archaeologist figured out where a picture on the blog 2338 W. Washington Blvd. had been taken and her description of the amusement park in question in “A Tale of Two Photos.” I remember wild rides like the ones she describes!
Finding the old homestead
Nick Gombash of Nick Gombash’s Genealogy Blog has a useful tip on a really neat website for finding your ancestors’ land in “How to Locate Your Ancestor’s Land.”
Susan Clark puts to rest
an old family myth about where the family’s sympathies lay in the Civil War in “My House Divided” at Nolichucky Roots. Looking forward to reading more of Susan’s journey of discovery about this family.
Another good Civil War story
is at Margel’s 2338 W. Washington Blvd.: “The Youngest Son Runs Away.”
The discussion continues
At Genealogy Leftovers, Judy Webster has some good suggestions on “How to Become a Paid Researcher.”
Let’s Play!
Devil’s Advocate, that is. Jennifer at Rainy Day Genealogy Readings shows us the best way to play this - with our/her own research. Check out “Devil’s Advocate: The Mysterious Ms. Dexter.”
Or we can play doctor ...
No, not that kind of playing doctor ... but a “Primary Care Genealogist” - a concept DearMyrtle learned about in her ProGen Study Group and describes in “Primary Care Genealogists.”
And Joan Miller shares all
in “Confessions of a Genea-Conference Groupie” at Luxegen Genealogy and Family History. Shocking!
A timely and relevant topic
“Genealogy Conferences - The Magic Recipe” at GeneaBloggers.
“Genealogy Conferences - Setting the Space”
“Genealogy Conferences - Delivering the Content”
“Genealogy Conferences - Selling the Goods”
Also on this topic:
From Helen V. Smith’s Keyboard - “GeneaBloggers: Genealogy Conferences - The Magic Recipe” and “Genealogy Conferences - Delivering the Content”
Genealogy Leftovers - “Genealogy Conferences - Delivering the Content” and
“Genealogy Conference Vendors”
Genea-Musings - “Presenting at Seminars and Societies - My View” and “Genealogy Conference Vendors - My Views”
The Chart Chick - “Vendors”
The Armchair Genealogist - “How to Persuade Me to Attend More Genealogy Conferences”
Marian’s Roots and Rambles - “The Life of a Genealogical Speaker”
Why not all of those cards look alike
In “Separate But Equal? WWI Draft Registrations” Renate at Into the Light reveals a difference in the handling of the draft registration cards of blacks and whites and wonders about the inconsistencies in the practice as applied to her ancestors.
These are two of my favorite things...
Language. Genealogy. The intersection of all that is important in the universe. (OK, that’s a slight exaggeration.) “Transliteration vs Translation” at The ProGenealogists Genealogy Blog. And, just gotta add, translation involves converting written language (usually to written language), while interpreting is a similar process for the spoken language.
This week’s “choked me up” item
is “Send Up a Flare, Mystery Bride Identified! - Mystery Monday” at Cynthia Shenette’s Heritage Zen. Happy Dance time with potential for more to come.
How death information is reported
to the Social Security Administration - get the facts at Craig Manson’s GeneaBlogie in “Research Note: A Bit of Info About SSDI.”
And finally:
The Carnival is in town! Check out “Carnival of Genealogy, 105th Edition” at Jasia’s Creative Gene.
For more suggested blog reading,
check out “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Best Bytes for the Week” at Elizabeth O’Neal’s Little Bytes of Life, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
Bluegrass and Buckeye Roots
Genealogy Jack
Remember
The History Man
The Scots in America
Their Hearts Shall Turn
Who’s Your Granddaddy?
Onward to our Past
My Research Week
It was a good one. I am getting ready for the trip to Charleston for the NGS Conference, and my husband is even encouraging me to take all of my South Carolina research materials along! After all, we’ll be stopping in Greenville on the way back.
Brinlee research, as described in the previous post, was interesting.
And I learned something interesting about a fellow Fichtelmann researcher. This was my husband’s comment: “We’re in some sort of incestuous relationship with some couple we haven’t even met.” Um, no, dear. What we know is that you are related to this researcher’s husband - through the Fichtelmanns, of course. And I learned (from checking her research interests on Findagrave and confirming it with her later) that this researcher and I are related through the Skiles line. But that’s not incest.
No Follow Friday newsletter for the next two weeks, but I do hope to post about the trip and the conference.
A special thanks to Kathleen at Misadventures of a Genealogist for the One Lovely Blog Award!
I wanna be the dude with the super-duper computer!
In “Part VI: Profiling Your Ancestors,” Heather Doherty at Good to Know compares the genealogists’ search to the work of investigators featured on well-known TV crime dramas. Some pretty good parallels there....
Blogger connections
are fascinating. Read how Linda Gartz at Family Archaeologist figured out where a picture on the blog 2338 W. Washington Blvd. had been taken and her description of the amusement park in question in “A Tale of Two Photos.” I remember wild rides like the ones she describes!
Finding the old homestead
Nick Gombash of Nick Gombash’s Genealogy Blog has a useful tip on a really neat website for finding your ancestors’ land in “How to Locate Your Ancestor’s Land.”
Susan Clark puts to rest
an old family myth about where the family’s sympathies lay in the Civil War in “My House Divided” at Nolichucky Roots. Looking forward to reading more of Susan’s journey of discovery about this family.
Another good Civil War story
is at Margel’s 2338 W. Washington Blvd.: “The Youngest Son Runs Away.”
The discussion continues
At Genealogy Leftovers, Judy Webster has some good suggestions on “How to Become a Paid Researcher.”
Let’s Play!
Devil’s Advocate, that is. Jennifer at Rainy Day Genealogy Readings shows us the best way to play this - with our/her own research. Check out “Devil’s Advocate: The Mysterious Ms. Dexter.”
Or we can play doctor ...
No, not that kind of playing doctor ... but a “Primary Care Genealogist” - a concept DearMyrtle learned about in her ProGen Study Group and describes in “Primary Care Genealogists.”
And Joan Miller shares all
in “Confessions of a Genea-Conference Groupie” at Luxegen Genealogy and Family History. Shocking!
A timely and relevant topic
“Genealogy Conferences - The Magic Recipe” at GeneaBloggers.
“Genealogy Conferences - Setting the Space”
“Genealogy Conferences - Delivering the Content”
“Genealogy Conferences - Selling the Goods”
Also on this topic:
From Helen V. Smith’s Keyboard - “GeneaBloggers: Genealogy Conferences - The Magic Recipe” and “Genealogy Conferences - Delivering the Content”
Genealogy Leftovers - “Genealogy Conferences - Delivering the Content” and
“Genealogy Conference Vendors”
Genea-Musings - “Presenting at Seminars and Societies - My View” and “Genealogy Conference Vendors - My Views”
The Chart Chick - “Vendors”
The Armchair Genealogist - “How to Persuade Me to Attend More Genealogy Conferences”
Marian’s Roots and Rambles - “The Life of a Genealogical Speaker”
Why not all of those cards look alike
In “Separate But Equal? WWI Draft Registrations” Renate at Into the Light reveals a difference in the handling of the draft registration cards of blacks and whites and wonders about the inconsistencies in the practice as applied to her ancestors.
These are two of my favorite things...
Language. Genealogy. The intersection of all that is important in the universe. (OK, that’s a slight exaggeration.) “Transliteration vs Translation” at The ProGenealogists Genealogy Blog. And, just gotta add, translation involves converting written language (usually to written language), while interpreting is a similar process for the spoken language.
This week’s “choked me up” item
is “Send Up a Flare, Mystery Bride Identified! - Mystery Monday” at Cynthia Shenette’s Heritage Zen. Happy Dance time with potential for more to come.
How death information is reported
to the Social Security Administration - get the facts at Craig Manson’s GeneaBlogie in “Research Note: A Bit of Info About SSDI.”
And finally:
The Carnival is in town! Check out “Carnival of Genealogy, 105th Edition” at Jasia’s Creative Gene.
For more suggested blog reading,
check out “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Best Bytes for the Week” at Elizabeth O’Neal’s Little Bytes of Life, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
Bluegrass and Buckeye Roots
Genealogy Jack
Remember
The History Man
The Scots in America
Their Hearts Shall Turn
Who’s Your Granddaddy?
Onward to our Past
My Research Week
It was a good one. I am getting ready for the trip to Charleston for the NGS Conference, and my husband is even encouraging me to take all of my South Carolina research materials along! After all, we’ll be stopping in Greenville on the way back.
Brinlee research, as described in the previous post, was interesting.
And I learned something interesting about a fellow Fichtelmann researcher. This was my husband’s comment: “We’re in some sort of incestuous relationship with some couple we haven’t even met.” Um, no, dear. What we know is that you are related to this researcher’s husband - through the Fichtelmanns, of course. And I learned (from checking her research interests on Findagrave and confirming it with her later) that this researcher and I are related through the Skiles line. But that’s not incest.
No Follow Friday newsletter for the next two weeks, but I do hope to post about the trip and the conference.
A special thanks to Kathleen at Misadventures of a Genealogist for the One Lovely Blog Award!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 29 April 2011
This Week in Genea-Blogging
Casting a nervous eye
on the reliability of various types of data storage/backup - James Tanner explains why he is never completely confident about this in “Reliability of the Cloud? Family Search Forums Still Down” at Genealogy’s Star. I love his “questions to self” at the end. Also from James Tanner this week: “Don’t rely on icons and stereotypes in historical research,” inspired by John Philip Colletta’s recent article in Family Tree Magazine.
Take this advice to heart
Paula Stuart-Warren provides some good suggestions for “Getting others involved in your genealogical society” at Paula’s Genealogical Eclectica.
Fun with Google Docs
The Minnesota Family Historian shows us another neat feature of Google Docs - making charts from spreadsheets - in “Fancy Chart How-To: Ethnicity in America.”
This day in history...
For a nice list of websites that do this, check out “Skillbuilder: Placing Your Ancestors Within Their Time” at the Leafseeker.
More neat map stuff
At Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter: “The Easy Way to Add Maps to Your Family History Projects.”
When the records changed
Daniel Hubbard at Personal Past Meditations examines what records were created as a result of the Civil War and Reconstruction, what you can find in Reconstruction-era records, and what unique information those records may provide in “Reconstructing the Post-War World.”
An unusual research aid
is examined by Kathleen Brandt at a3 Genealogy in “African American Research - Pre and Post WWI: The Green Book Travel Guide.”
More on preparing for the 1940 census
Jenny Lanctot at Are My Roots Showing? points us to some useful links and downloadable forms at her Research Toolbox website, Jenny-ology in “Preparing for the Release of the 1940 Federal Census” (there is also a comment from a representative of the Morse One Step website on the fact that there are actually 5 conversion tools on that site).
She did what I still wanna do...
Amy Coffin at We Tree found her 16th great-great-grandparent: “The Search for Number 16, part 1” and “The Search for Number 16, part 2.” Congratulations! I’m still hoping, waiting, thinking, planning, plotting....
Funniest post of the week
“Breaking News: Scientists Pinpoint the Origins of Piles of Genea-Crap” at Kerry Scott’s Clue Wagon. Not that any of us is guilty of any of this in any way....
Glad to see a couple of faves posting again: Consanguinity and Rainy Day Genealogy Readings.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
The Leafseeker
Climbing the Family Rosebush
From Helen V. Smith’s Keyboard
Generations Past
Janis’ Genealogy
Murmuring Trees
Who Does She Think She Is?
Heritage Paper Dolls
My Research Week
was not too bad. The main focus were two of my husband’s families, the Fichtelmanns and the Koehls.
This week I also finally set up a website at Weebly. Right now it is still Weebly-sponsored (= free; it may remain so until I see how much I will be using it). Does anyone else out there using Weebly or anything like it have any thoughts on sponsored versus own domain websites? Also, is this particular setup conducive to posting the kind of linked genealogical information in formats such as those provided by The Next Generation in Genealogy Site Building as demonstrated by Valerie Craft of Begin with Craft on her new website, BeginWithCraft.com (which I really like the look of, by the way)? I can generate web cards from my Reunion program, but I’m not sure whether the pages and linking system will be “clunky” or not. (Wow, those sentence certainly reveal my overwhelming ignorance in matters of web design.)
A Few More:
Since I post Follow Friday Newsletter on Thursday evening, I missed later “Great Discussion” posts. Here are a few:
Genealogy Leftovers - “Making Money from Genealogy”
Minnesota Family Historian - “Money Changes Everything - or Does It?”
JLog - “Genealogy, Computers & Money”
We Tree - “Money Changes Everything - Or Does It?”
GeneaBloggers - “Money Changes Everything - Or Does It?”
Genealogy’s Star - “More on money and genealogy? How can that happen?”
Genealogy Frame of Mind - “Yep Its That Free Genealogy Thing AGAIN!”
For more suggested blog reading
check out “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favs” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere” at Susan Petersen’s Long Lost Relatives.net, “Best Bytes for the Week” at Elizabeth O’Neal’s Little Bytes of Life, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
Casting a nervous eye
on the reliability of various types of data storage/backup - James Tanner explains why he is never completely confident about this in “Reliability of the Cloud? Family Search Forums Still Down” at Genealogy’s Star. I love his “questions to self” at the end. Also from James Tanner this week: “Don’t rely on icons and stereotypes in historical research,” inspired by John Philip Colletta’s recent article in Family Tree Magazine.
Take this advice to heart
Paula Stuart-Warren provides some good suggestions for “Getting others involved in your genealogical society” at Paula’s Genealogical Eclectica.
Fun with Google Docs
The Minnesota Family Historian shows us another neat feature of Google Docs - making charts from spreadsheets - in “Fancy Chart How-To: Ethnicity in America.”
This day in history...
For a nice list of websites that do this, check out “Skillbuilder: Placing Your Ancestors Within Their Time” at the Leafseeker.
More neat map stuff
At Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter: “The Easy Way to Add Maps to Your Family History Projects.”
When the records changed
Daniel Hubbard at Personal Past Meditations examines what records were created as a result of the Civil War and Reconstruction, what you can find in Reconstruction-era records, and what unique information those records may provide in “Reconstructing the Post-War World.”
An unusual research aid
is examined by Kathleen Brandt at a3 Genealogy in “African American Research - Pre and Post WWI: The Green Book Travel Guide.”
More on preparing for the 1940 census
Jenny Lanctot at Are My Roots Showing? points us to some useful links and downloadable forms at her Research Toolbox website, Jenny-ology in “Preparing for the Release of the 1940 Federal Census” (there is also a comment from a representative of the Morse One Step website on the fact that there are actually 5 conversion tools on that site).
She did what I still wanna do...
Amy Coffin at We Tree found her 16th great-great-grandparent: “The Search for Number 16, part 1” and “The Search for Number 16, part 2.” Congratulations! I’m still hoping, waiting, thinking, planning, plotting....
Funniest post of the week
“Breaking News: Scientists Pinpoint the Origins of Piles of Genea-Crap” at Kerry Scott’s Clue Wagon. Not that any of us is guilty of any of this in any way....
Glad to see a couple of faves posting again: Consanguinity and Rainy Day Genealogy Readings.
This Week I Started Following These Blogs:
The Leafseeker
Climbing the Family Rosebush
From Helen V. Smith’s Keyboard
Generations Past
Janis’ Genealogy
Murmuring Trees
Who Does She Think She Is?
Heritage Paper Dolls
My Research Week
was not too bad. The main focus were two of my husband’s families, the Fichtelmanns and the Koehls.
This week I also finally set up a website at Weebly. Right now it is still Weebly-sponsored (= free; it may remain so until I see how much I will be using it). Does anyone else out there using Weebly or anything like it have any thoughts on sponsored versus own domain websites? Also, is this particular setup conducive to posting the kind of linked genealogical information in formats such as those provided by The Next Generation in Genealogy Site Building as demonstrated by Valerie Craft of Begin with Craft on her new website, BeginWithCraft.com (which I really like the look of, by the way)? I can generate web cards from my Reunion program, but I’m not sure whether the pages and linking system will be “clunky” or not. (Wow, those sentence certainly reveal my overwhelming ignorance in matters of web design.)
A Few More:
Since I post Follow Friday Newsletter on Thursday evening, I missed later “Great Discussion” posts. Here are a few:
Genealogy Leftovers - “Making Money from Genealogy”
Minnesota Family Historian - “Money Changes Everything - or Does It?”
JLog - “Genealogy, Computers & Money”
We Tree - “Money Changes Everything - Or Does It?”
GeneaBloggers - “Money Changes Everything - Or Does It?”
Genealogy’s Star - “More on money and genealogy? How can that happen?”
Genealogy Frame of Mind - “Yep Its That Free Genealogy Thing AGAIN!”
For more suggested blog reading
check out “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favs” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere” at Susan Petersen’s Long Lost Relatives.net, “Best Bytes for the Week” at Elizabeth O’Neal’s Little Bytes of Life, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 22 April 2011
This Week in Genea-Blogging
This one got my dander up ...
Not the post, but the book being reviewed. The Minnesota Family Historian addresses an ignorant slander of genealogists in “Book Review: The Genetic Strand.”
Topic of the week
Joan Miller at Luxegen Genealogy writes about “Genea-Bodies: The New Somebodies.” And now that term is showing up in lots of places! Be sure to read the comments as well. This discusison has generated follow-up conversations all over the place right now; I’ll list as many as I can at the bottom of this post.
If you have not checked out
Nancy’s My Ancestors and Me, you definitely should correct that omission. She does some of the best photo analyses - not necessarily for dating pictures, but for figuring out what is going on in a picture. This week she discusses a “Photograph After a Family Argument?” What do you think?
Bill West gets some of the neatest ideas
This week it was to check out his own birth certificate: “What I Learned from my Birth Certificate” at West in New England.
Another slant on the Civil War
Daniel Hubbard muses on the records left by the Civil War on “Seven Score and Ten” at Personal Past Meditations: A Genealogical Blog.
A useful new blog
is recommended at Family Tree May Contain Nuts (“Why I Oughtta!!!”): My Favorite Hatemail: Where mean comments go to die. I’m sure at least a few of us have received these.
See how the pros do it
in “Going to Salt Lake City” at The You Go Genealogy Girls. A good overview of how to plan, what to take, how to haul it around, and how to pace yourself.
Things come together in unusual ways
In “A Blog, An Obituary, and a Little 1892 Dress,” Barbara Poole at Life from the Roots explains how all these items are related and came together in a serendipitous string of events.
Congratulations!
to Gen Wish List’s Tina Lyons, who was recently elected Vice President of the Indiana Genealogical Society. Check out the story behind the story in “2011 IGS Conference Recap.”
Getting ready for the big event
At Nutfield Genealogy, Heather Rojo gives a “1940 Census Sneak Peak for Genealogists” as reported in a lecture by Jean Rudd at NERGC.
Keeping track of all that stuff
In “The Genealogy Digital Bookshelf,” Taneya Koonce of Taneya’s Genealogy Blog writes about setting up a new site, her Genealogy Digital Bookshelf, to keep track of e-texts she finds on the Internet Archive.
Uhhh ... check this out ...
“John does genealogy!” at Anglo-Celtic Connections.
Please read
“Death Never Gets the Final Word” by Nancy Shively at Family Tree Firsts. She is right. Genealogy is about “telling the stories of people who can no longer tell them themselves.”
General Land Office Stuff You Should Know About
Check out “BLM Website & NARA provide access to General Land Office paperwork” at DearMYRTLE’s Genealogy Blog.
This week I started following these blogs:
Another Day with Donna
Patching My Family Together
Stories from Many Moons Ago
The Researching Archivist
What’s My Lineage? Confessions of a Lineage Group Junkie
Life, Kids and Genealogy
My Favorite Hate Mail: Where mean comments go to die
My Research Week
There was no "What I Learned Wednesday" this week, and you know why? Because spring cleaning and research don't mix very well. This week's target was my home office. The surprising thing is that my genealogy files and materials were actually in pretty good shape. When I could see them. The problem was that many of them were buried beneath piles of non-genealogy junk. Now that all that stuff is cleared away, I'm ready to tackle my research projects and actually get something done.
More on Genea-Bodies, Fun, Profit, Careers in Genealogy, and Much More
GeneaBloggers - "Genealogy Blogging - For Fun or Profit?", "Careers in Genealogy - 'Off the Chart' Thinking," "Genealogy - What Do You Mean It Isn't Free?", and "How Do You Make Money in Genealogy?"
Genea-Musings - “Genealogy - for Fun or Profit?”, “Careers in Genealogy - My Choices Work for Me”, "TANSTAAFGS"
DearMYRTLE’s Genealogy Blog - “Bloggers and speakers and researchers, oh my!”
Clue Wagon - “In Which We (Finally) Discuss Taboo Stuff”
Tricks of the Tree - “Genea-Bodies: A Response to the Comments”
The Armchair Genealogist - “From the Archives: Can I Turn My Love of Genealogy into a Career?” and “My Career in Genealogy or Today I Made $1.28!!”
The We Tree Genealogy Blog - “Genealogy Blogging: For Fun or Profit?”, “Careers in Genealogy: Charting Your Own Course,” “Free Genealogy Isn’t Free,” and “How Do You Make Money in Genealogy?”
Minnesota Family Historian - “Genealogy Blogging - For Fun or Profit?”, “Careers in Genealogy,” and “What Do You Mean It Isn’t Free”
Amanda’s Athenaeum - “Genealogy Blogging - For Fun or Profit?: My Take” and “How Do I Make Money in Genealogy?”
Bayside Blog - “Diving in Thumbs First: My Take on the Paid Genealogy Debate”
Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories - “Genea-opportunities - we each choose what is right for us”
Family History Research - “Joining the ‘Us vs Them’ Discussion”
Ian Hadden’s Family History - “The Pro Versus Hobbyist Genealogist Debate”
You Are Where You Came From - “Genealogy and Profit: A Hobbyist’s Perspective”
The Family History Researcher - “Charging for Genealogy Services Is Not Bad”
Genealogy Frame of Mind - “Let’s Keep All Genealogy Free...”
Genealogy’s Star - “Money, Money, Money and Genealogy”
The Ancestral Archaeologist - “Freebies of Choice”
I am sure I have missed quite a few posts and for that I apologize; there are also a number of discussions on Facebook.
For more suggested blog reading,
check out “Best Bytes for the Week” at Elizabeth O’Neal’s Little Bytes of Life, “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere” at Susan Petersen’s Long Lost Relatives.net, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Faves” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
This one got my dander up ...
Not the post, but the book being reviewed. The Minnesota Family Historian addresses an ignorant slander of genealogists in “Book Review: The Genetic Strand.”
Topic of the week
Joan Miller at Luxegen Genealogy writes about “Genea-Bodies: The New Somebodies.” And now that term is showing up in lots of places! Be sure to read the comments as well. This discusison has generated follow-up conversations all over the place right now; I’ll list as many as I can at the bottom of this post.
If you have not checked out
Nancy’s My Ancestors and Me, you definitely should correct that omission. She does some of the best photo analyses - not necessarily for dating pictures, but for figuring out what is going on in a picture. This week she discusses a “Photograph After a Family Argument?” What do you think?
Bill West gets some of the neatest ideas
This week it was to check out his own birth certificate: “What I Learned from my Birth Certificate” at West in New England.
Another slant on the Civil War
Daniel Hubbard muses on the records left by the Civil War on “Seven Score and Ten” at Personal Past Meditations: A Genealogical Blog.
A useful new blog
is recommended at Family Tree May Contain Nuts (“Why I Oughtta!!!”): My Favorite Hatemail: Where mean comments go to die. I’m sure at least a few of us have received these.
See how the pros do it
in “Going to Salt Lake City” at The You Go Genealogy Girls. A good overview of how to plan, what to take, how to haul it around, and how to pace yourself.
Things come together in unusual ways
In “A Blog, An Obituary, and a Little 1892 Dress,” Barbara Poole at Life from the Roots explains how all these items are related and came together in a serendipitous string of events.
Congratulations!
to Gen Wish List’s Tina Lyons, who was recently elected Vice President of the Indiana Genealogical Society. Check out the story behind the story in “2011 IGS Conference Recap.”
Getting ready for the big event
At Nutfield Genealogy, Heather Rojo gives a “1940 Census Sneak Peak for Genealogists” as reported in a lecture by Jean Rudd at NERGC.
Keeping track of all that stuff
In “The Genealogy Digital Bookshelf,” Taneya Koonce of Taneya’s Genealogy Blog writes about setting up a new site, her Genealogy Digital Bookshelf, to keep track of e-texts she finds on the Internet Archive.
Uhhh ... check this out ...
“John does genealogy!” at Anglo-Celtic Connections.
Please read
“Death Never Gets the Final Word” by Nancy Shively at Family Tree Firsts. She is right. Genealogy is about “telling the stories of people who can no longer tell them themselves.”
General Land Office Stuff You Should Know About
Check out “BLM Website & NARA provide access to General Land Office paperwork” at DearMYRTLE’s Genealogy Blog.
This week I started following these blogs:
Another Day with Donna
Patching My Family Together
Stories from Many Moons Ago
The Researching Archivist
What’s My Lineage? Confessions of a Lineage Group Junkie
Life, Kids and Genealogy
My Favorite Hate Mail: Where mean comments go to die
My Research Week
There was no "What I Learned Wednesday" this week, and you know why? Because spring cleaning and research don't mix very well. This week's target was my home office. The surprising thing is that my genealogy files and materials were actually in pretty good shape. When I could see them. The problem was that many of them were buried beneath piles of non-genealogy junk. Now that all that stuff is cleared away, I'm ready to tackle my research projects and actually get something done.
More on Genea-Bodies, Fun, Profit, Careers in Genealogy, and Much More
GeneaBloggers - "Genealogy Blogging - For Fun or Profit?", "Careers in Genealogy - 'Off the Chart' Thinking," "Genealogy - What Do You Mean It Isn't Free?", and "How Do You Make Money in Genealogy?"
Genea-Musings - “Genealogy - for Fun or Profit?”, “Careers in Genealogy - My Choices Work for Me”, "TANSTAAFGS"
DearMYRTLE’s Genealogy Blog - “Bloggers and speakers and researchers, oh my!”
Clue Wagon - “In Which We (Finally) Discuss Taboo Stuff”
Tricks of the Tree - “Genea-Bodies: A Response to the Comments”
The Armchair Genealogist - “From the Archives: Can I Turn My Love of Genealogy into a Career?” and “My Career in Genealogy or Today I Made $1.28!!”
The We Tree Genealogy Blog - “Genealogy Blogging: For Fun or Profit?”, “Careers in Genealogy: Charting Your Own Course,” “Free Genealogy Isn’t Free,” and “How Do You Make Money in Genealogy?”
Minnesota Family Historian - “Genealogy Blogging - For Fun or Profit?”, “Careers in Genealogy,” and “What Do You Mean It Isn’t Free”
Amanda’s Athenaeum - “Genealogy Blogging - For Fun or Profit?: My Take” and “How Do I Make Money in Genealogy?”
Bayside Blog - “Diving in Thumbs First: My Take on the Paid Genealogy Debate”
Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories - “Genea-opportunities - we each choose what is right for us”
Family History Research - “Joining the ‘Us vs Them’ Discussion”
Ian Hadden’s Family History - “The Pro Versus Hobbyist Genealogist Debate”
You Are Where You Came From - “Genealogy and Profit: A Hobbyist’s Perspective”
The Family History Researcher - “Charging for Genealogy Services Is Not Bad”
Genealogy Frame of Mind - “Let’s Keep All Genealogy Free...”
Genealogy’s Star - “Money, Money, Money and Genealogy”
The Ancestral Archaeologist - “Freebies of Choice”
I am sure I have missed quite a few posts and for that I apologize; there are also a number of discussions on Facebook.
For more suggested blog reading,
check out “Best Bytes for the Week” at Elizabeth O’Neal’s Little Bytes of Life, “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere” at Susan Petersen’s Long Lost Relatives.net, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Faves” at Jen’s Climbing My Family Tree, and “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist.
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