Saturday, April 29, 2006

Is TV ready for Reality Genealogy?



Chris Dunham at The Genealogue has been my favorite blogger for many months now. I appreciate and envy his wit and humor.

He just outdid himself with a Genealogue Exclusive. You have to read this!

My own vision of a Genealogy TV show is "Desperate Genealogists" where the sexy ladies on Wisteria Lane compete with each other to find the male with the best pedigree (hmm, related to the Queen, descended from Washington or Jefferson, or maybe fathered the most children through a sperm bank), or conspire with each other to hang a loser (maybe with a horse thief or a black sheep in his ancestry) on one of their "friends." There are plenty of potential episodes in this show idea, eh? Maybe they'll even romance the librarian in the process (Ken A, that was for you!).

UK BMD Indexes online



The Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes for the United Kingdom are available on Ancestry for a subscription. Occasionally, there is a free offer.

I received an email today from AncestralFindings with links to free access to the UK BMD Indexes. Click the link above.

Note that these are indexes only, not the actual records. But you can write down the district and volume/page of the record and order the record.

I don't know how long this offer will last - so hurry!

Genealogy meets CSI in Chula Vista



Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick spoke at a s special meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society today. Her talk was on "Forensic Genealogy," which is based on her book by the same name. Her book, and much of her data, were highlighted in the cover article "Genealogy Meets CSI" in the April 2006 issue of Family Tree Magazine.

Colleen's talk today was excellent - she led us through being a "Photo Detective" to being a "Database Detective" to finally being a "DNA Detective." If you have not had the pleasure of seeing her presentation, please make an effort to do so.

Colleen will be presenting two talks (on "Forensic Genealogy" and "DNA & Genealogy" at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree in Burbank CA on 6 May, and will be making both presentations at the San Diego Genealogical Society on 13 May.

Colleen has a fascinating web site - called (who could guess?) Forensic Genealogy. In addition to information about her books, she has several pages about her photo and database detective techniques with examples. Perhaps the most intriguing part of her web site is the Contest page, where readers are invited to answer her weekly quiz and receive valuable prizes.

We enjoyed hosting Colleen and her co-author, Andrew Yeiser, at our meeting today. Our members enjoyed the presentation, and the discussion afterwards.

Visit her web site and answer the weekly quiz.

Friday, April 28, 2006

My music faves 1960 to 1964



Continuing with my list of rock and pop music from my youth...today we'll deal with 1960 to 1964.

1960 to 1963 saw Elvis back from the Army, more country crossover songs, the emergence of the "girl groups," and surf music. The pop music world got a jolt in 1964 with the Beatles and the British invasion that followed. Naturally, I liked all of the above, plus more.

My four favorites by year are:

1960:
* Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? - Shirelles
* It's Now or Never - Elvis Presley
* Wild One - bobby Rydell
* El Paso - Marty Robbins

1961:
* I Love How You Love Me - Paris sisters
* Runaway - Del Shannon
* This Is Dedicated to the One I Love - Shirelles
* Blue Moon - Marcels

1962:
* Do You Love Me? -- Contours
* Breaking Up Is Hard to Do - Neil Sedaka
* Sherry - Four Seasons
* The Lion Sleeps Tonight - Tokens

1963:
* Heat Wave - Martha and Vandellas
* Surf City - Jan and Dean
* Surfin' USA - Beach Boys
* If You Wanna Be Happy - Jimmy Soul

1964:
* She Loves You - Beatles
* Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five
* You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - Righteous Brothers
* Where Did Our Love Go? - Supremes

I'll do 1965 to 1969 sometime next week, and maybe even my own Top 20 of all time.

As you can see, I pretty much like high energy pop and mellow dreamy ballads.

What songs did you like from these years? Does anyone have links to the songs themselves - to play them, not download them?

I had genealogy FUN today



Genealogy FUN for me means finding new and useful data about my ancestors or research subjects. Today was a FUN day!

I decided to go to the San Diego Family History Center in Mission Valley. Two weeks ago, I browsed the book with Bristol County MA probate abstracts for 1687 to 1735 or so, and noted the volumes and page numbers for my many Bristol ancestors. I also ordered the microfilm for Volumes 1 to 4. They called the other day that the film had arrived.

The film has the probate record books that were handwritten by the Probate Court Clerk - so they aren't the original wills written by the testators. But that's OK, those are hard to obtain without visiting the County itself. I'm stuck in San Diego, so the FHLC films work for me!

I managed to get probate records (wills, inventories, affidavits, etc., depending on the situation) for:

* Abigail Carpenter of Rehoboth (d 1681),
* Henry Tucker of Dartmouth (d. 1694),
* Edward Richmond of Taunton (d. 1697),
* Nathaniel Soule of Dartmouth (d. 1700),
* John Woodcock of Dedham and Attleborough (d. 1704),
* Joseph Allen of Dartmouth (d. 1704),
* Nathaniel Potter of Dartmouth (d. 1704),
* Reuben Wait of Dartmouth (d. 1707),
* Arthur Hathaway of Dartmouth (d. 1711),
* Joseph Church of Bristol county (d. 1711),
* Samuel Gray of Taunton (d. 1712),
* Thomas Horton of Rehoboth (d. 1715),
* John Garnsey of Rehoboth (d. 1722),
* Richard Kirby of Dartmouth (d. 1688),
* Mathew Wing of Dartmouth (d. 1724).

Are you related to any of these? If so, please contact me!

The "good" microfilm printer machine at the FHC, which makes 11 x 17 copies for 25 cents a page, is broken and will not be fixed. So I had to use the even older machine which only makes 8.5 x 11 copies. I made about 70 pages of copies.

So that was fun. Now the hard work begins - to abstract the probate records and transcribe the wills. The penmanship of the clerk was partly Elizabethan script, but it is fairly readable. Only one document that I copied had torn edges - the Joseph Church will.

What genealogy FUN have you had recently? Tell me!

Thursday, April 27, 2006

A tremendous PA history web site

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I was browsing a bit tonight - and chanced upon a tremendous web site about colonial and RevWar Pennsylvania history. It is MotherBedford, which refers to the present day PA counties of Bedford, Somerset, Huntingdon, Fulton, Blair and Cambria after 1773.

The site has many links to PA history, the Revolutionary War in PA, early settlers, and the like. There are many fascinating articles. I could easily read this site for hours.

Try it - you'll love it! Do you know of web sites like this one that have a lot of history and genealogy? Tell me about them.

Our Genealogy Vacation in Norway

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One of our favorite vacations was to Scandinavia. We had hosted two teenage girls from Finland in 1994 for three weeks, and had kept in touch with them over the years. In 1999, we were invited to visit their families in Finland, so we planned our vacation around them. We flew to Stockholm, then to the north of Sweden where Mia's family picked us up, then drove from Tornio to Kuopio to visit Anne's family, then to Helsinki.

After our 10 day Finland family experience, which was just wonderful, we flew to Oslo, and did a little touring.

Linda's brother had done quite a bit of Leland family history and had visited the Liland farm near Voss in Norway back in 1980. To prepare for our vacation, I tried to find Linda's Norwegian ancestral families and had some luck - I used the Voss bygdebok (farm book) and Voss Parish Registers at the FHC to trace her families back into the 1600's before we went.

I used contacts from the Norway genealogy message board to ask questions, get answers, etc. I arranged to meet several folks for dinner in Oslo when we visited there and we had a delightful conversation. One of the fellows took some notes on one of the ancestral families. He went to the Archives the next day and sent me an email at the hotel with the answer, just before we left for Voss.

The Voss scenery is breathtaking. There is a long lake, mountains all around, many rivers and streams, very green in the summer, and very white in the winter (it is a ski resort then). I had corresponded a bit with Svein Ulvund (see his photo site here) and knew the layout of the area. Here is one of Svein's pictures of summertime Voss:


We arrived after a 6 hour train trip through the mountains, made it to our hotel, and I took off for the bookstore, the library and the Internet cafe in beautiful downtown Voss. I bought a book, got a good map, and checked my email.

One of my message board friends had been to Voss the year before, and recommended that I contact Bjorg Liland, who was related by marriage to the Liland farm families. We called the first night, and Bjorg graciously offered to drive us around the lake the next day. We visited Gjelle farm, Midtun farm, Molster farm and Liland farm, all ancestral farms. At Liland farm, Bjorg had arranged to talk to the family, compare genealogy notes and have a snack there - it was quite enjoyable, although the Liland ladies didn't speak English, but Bjorg translated.

Molster farm was where Linda's ancestors lived just before they left for Wisconsin in 1855. It is now a "living museum" vintage 1855, with docents in each room, and a small artifacts room. I enjoyed it tremendously, especially the food cooked in the kitchen.

Needless to say, we really appreciated Bjorg's efforts on our behalf and we treated her to a nice dinner at the Park Liland Hotel in downtown Voss (she used to work there). A few days later, she invited us over for dessert at her apartment. After more sightseeing ("Norway in a Nutshell" tour - excellent!), we took the train to Bergen and then flew home. We had a wonderful three weeks in Scandinavia.

This vacation was what "hooked" Linda on genealogy vacations - she wants to do more now! I've found the "other half" of her Norway ancestry, so perhaps we can go visit Sogndal (on the Sogn fjord) some day.

Have you had a genealogy vacation? Tell me about it!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

I love '50s and '60s music

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I love the music I grew up with - from about 1955 to about 1967 - essentially my teenage and young adult years. I love to sing along (unfortunately, in the key of J Sharp most of the time) to songs on the radio. I decided I would try to identify four favorite songs from each year. Here are my lists from 1955 to 1959:

1955: Earth Angel - Penguins
Maybelline - Chuck Berry
Only You - Platters
Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley and Comets

1956: In the Still of the Night - Five Satins
Why Do Fools Fall in Love - Frankie Lymon and Teenagers
Young Love - Sonny James
Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins

1957: Come Go With Me - Dell Vikings
At the Hop - Danny and Juniors
Chances Are - Johnny Mathis
Oh Boy - Buddy Holly and Crickets

1958: All I have to Do Is Dream - Everly Brothers
Do You Wanna Dance - Bobby Freeman
Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
Chantilly Lace - the Big Bopper

1959: 16 Candles - Crests
I Only Have Eyes for You - Flamingos
Misty - Johnny Mathis
Love Potion #9 - Clovers

I'll do the '60s in a later post.

As you can see, my teenage years were dominated by love songs - they were tough years for someone who was really small, really shy and didn't dance well. But hope always sprang eternal!

What were your favorite songs in these years? Tell me why!

HeritageQuestOnline resources

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I have accessed HeritageQuestOnline (HQO) for several years. It is a subscription genealogy site, but libraries or societies do the subscribing. You can access HQO for free from home if you are a member of the subscribing societies or libraries (over 2,500). There is a list of known subscribing sites here.

HeritageQuestOnline includes the following genealogy information:

1) U.S. Federal Census records from 1790 through 1930. There is a head of household index for the 1790 to 1820, 1860, 1870, and 1900 to 1920 census, but there is no index for 1830 to 1850, 1880, and only a partial index for 1930. You can search by surname, given name, place of birth, age, ethnicity, etc. You have to use the exact names in the index to find them, and it does not permit wild cards. I use the Advanced Search quite a bit. You can also search for a specific film/roll/page if you know the numbers (say from another site). You can use the Browse button and search a specific state/county/town or ward. You can download the census pages to your computer files.

2) The "People" button leads you to more than 20,000 searchable surname and local history books that are not under copyright protection (basically those published before 1923). The challenge here is to use the Search function judiciously - it finds books with every one of your search terms (e.g., if you put in "Seaver" and "Worcester" in the Search box, it will provide every book that has these two words in the book - whether they are in the same article or not). You can use some search words like "near" (within 25 words) and "exact" (for exact spelling of a name or place) to narrow the search, and you can use a wild card asterisk as a suffix (such as Seav* would give you Seaver, Seaverance, Seavey, etc). You can download the scanned pages to your computer files.

3) Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files of 81,000 RevWar veterans. They are searchable by name, with exact spelling required (so if you don't find your guy initially, try alternate surname spellings). You can view images of the original applications and save them to your computer files. However, only 10 pages from the file are online - you have to access the full file at the Archives to see the rest of the pages in the file.

4) PERSI (the PERiodical Source Index) is a comprehensive subject index covering more than 1.6 million articles in more than 6,500 genealogy and local history journals written in English and French since 1800. This is an index only, not an every name index. You may find surname specific articles, but you can't read the article text. If you find an article you want to peruse, you can search for it in your local libraries and copy it, or contact the Allen County (IN) Public Library to obtain the article for a fee.

5) Freedman's Bank Records is a database of African-American depositors to the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company after the Civil War. The files may contain personal data, family data and signatures of depositors. You can download the images to your computer files.

HeritageQuestOnline is an excellent resource for the pajamas-bound genealogist, and it is free if you have a library card to a participating institution. If you don't have one, please consider obtaining one!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Padres' 20 game report card: C minus

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I may regret writing this so soon after a demoralizing loss...another demoralizing loss...to the dreaded Arizona Snakes.

The highlight of the week was taking my granddaughter and her parents to the Saturday night Mets game. At 14 months, she captivated 4 rows of Section 314 by smiling, laughing, waving and clapping - I missed most of the middle three innings becvause Lauren was having so much fun - and so was I! She got tired, so we left early and missed the last runs of the debacle.

In the second ten games of the season, my beloved Padres went 5 and 5. Not bad, you say, an improvement on the 3 and 7 they tallied in the first ten games. But they were 3 and 1 and 5 and 3 at two points in the 10 game stretch. Yeah, if they continue winning two more games in every ten game block, they'll win the pennant. Fat chance!

After 20 games: the Friars have Won 8 Lost 12, 3 and 8 at home (huh!), 5 and 4 on the road. The story is how badly they have been beaten at home - 3 whippings by the Rockies, 2 by the Mets and 2 by the Snakes. And the homers just keep on coming in Petco - for the other guys. Even worse - Linda and I are 1 and 3 at Petco this year.

The position-by-position report card:

Starting Pitching: C Peavy is 1-3, with two bad outings - he is throwing, not pitching, I think. Woody Williams, Chan Ho Park and Clay Hensley have been just OK, but each has had a good game. Chris Young was good until his last start when he had a thumb problem.

Relief Pitching: C Linebrink lost 2, Embree had a bad outing, Hoffman had 3 saves, Cassidy and Sweeney pitched pretty well, and Brazelton has settled down to an ERA of about 18.

Catching: C Piazza and Mirabelli are just OK, I'd like to see more of Bowen, but we won't.

Infield Defense: C Several throwing errors, good range by Greene and Barfield, good scoops by Adrian G, and Vinny is OK at 3rd. But overall, they are not impressive.

Outfield Defense: B Cameron and Johnson cover some ground. Giles is OK. Roberts is also OK in left.

Hitting: D First in our hearts, last in the National League in batting average, runs and homers. Hmmm, maybe Cameron can help some. Greene is in a slump, Piazza too, and the lineup gets dominated by right handed pitchers (Pedro Martinez, Brandon Webb, Claudio Vargas in this 10 game stretch). Too many strikeouts, not enough walks, behind in the count, etc. Roberts, Barfield and Gonzalez have been fairly consistent.

Bench: D Have we had a critical pinch hit? At least now we have Johnson to pinch run when we need a stolen base.

Coaching: D Bochy is finally messing around with the lineup, but he's using Young, Blum and Mirabelli. He needs to use Johnson and Bowen more. Hoffman at third has made some mistakes too.

So that's it. My prognosis for the next 10 games? More of the same - we will be lucky to be 5 and 5 in the next 10.

What do you think? Will my beloved Padres escape last place?

Monday, April 24, 2006

What Were Their Parents Thinking?

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Everybody has a name. Most are innocuous, some are peculiar or even funny. I have gathered a few "good ones" from my incessant web searches and some censuswhacking (see this for a definition, some examples and links to other pages) and datawhacking on Rootsweb.

Here is part of my name collection (from many sources):

Royal Blood
Sweet Justice
Freke Dorothy Fluck Lane
Desire Ye Truth Thorne
Boadicea Basher
Be Joyful Tyler
Philadelphia Bunnyface
Africa, Asia, America and Europe Hamlin (Hannibal Hamlin’s children)
Faithful Cock
Fertelize Newport
Susan Booze
Flee Fornication White
Elizabeth Disco
Hatevil Nutter
Edward Evil
Cucumber Pickle
Girly Beard
Fanny Poker
Ima Lovely
Virgin Rolling
May January
Cupid Handsome
Zany Dummy
Victoria B. Home
Preserved Fish
Hyman Spanker

These are the clean ones! As you can imagine, there are plenty of risque ones in the records. I'll post some more from my censuswhacking and datawhacking experiences some time soon.

In the mean time, can you add to my collection? What are the strangest or funniest names you've found?

Articles on Genealogy Research

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When you have a puzzling research problem, where do you try to find answers or help? One place I look is in the online treasure trove of articles at the following web sites:

1) Ancestry has over 11,000 research articles in their ancesatry Library - and access to them is free. You can print them out or download and save them.

2) Genealogy.com has a library of over 100 articles, plus free online classes in Getting Started, Internet Genealogy and Tracing Immigrant Origins.

3) Rootsweb has research guides on general topics and on specific countries or ethnic groups. In addition, there are Rootsweb Review archives for the popular weekly newsletter.

4) LDS FamilySearch has research guides for each state and many countries that tell you what information is available in traditional research (on site or in books, microfilm or microfiche) or in online databases.

5) The genealogy page at About.com has many helpful research articles (on the left hand edge of the web page).

6) The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) has a number of excellent articles on their Skillbuilding web page.

I'm sure I've missed some - if you can recommend other sites, please let me know!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

The Carringer house in San Diego

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In my previous post, I noted that Austin and Della Carringer built a house in San Diego, which now stands at 2115 30th Street (with a second story added on in about 1927). The picture of the house in about 1900 is shown below:



The people in the picture are Austin Carringer, his wife Della (Smith) Carringer, their son Lyle Carringer, Austin's parents D.J. and Rebecca (Spangler) Carringer, his brother Edgar Carringer, Della's mother Abbie (Vaux) Smith, and the family horse.

I found this picture pasted into a County History book, along with many other family pictures, that was in the family Treasures.

Do you have a story about a house that you or your ancestors built? Tell me!

They Came to San Diego in 1887

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It's amazing what details you can find about your ancestor's lives when there are treasures in the closet. For instance:

Henry Austin Carringer was always known by his middle name, Austin. This may have been a Carringer family tradition, or perhaps from a traditional German naming pattern. He was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. His parents moved in 1858 to Columbus City, Louisa County, Iowa and then moved in 1873 to Caribou, Boulder County, Colorado. He met Della Smith in 1884; the Carringer and Smith families had tracts of land in Ellsworth, Cheyenne County, Kansas (on the Republican River in the northwest corner of Kansas). The Smith's resided in McCook, Red Willow County, Nebraska. Both families had invested in "ranches" in Ellsworth at some point in time and were there for part of the year. Wano is now a ghost town.

Mr. Austin Carringer and Miss Della Smith were performers at the playhouse built in Wano in Cheyenne County, starring in plays such as "Lady Audley's Secret", "The Dairyman's Daughter", "My Cousin Joe", "My Neighbor's Wife", and "The Secret; or, A Hole in the Wall". Della Carringer's scrapbook has many notices of these plays and other activities in St. Francis and Wano.

After three years of courtship, they sold their land there and were wed in Wano, Cheyenne County, Kansas by Rev. Emanuel Richards (their wedding certificate is on my picture wall in my home). A month later they traveled by train to San Diego, California on their honeymoon with $20 in their pockets. Austin went to work as a carpenter in the lumber mills in National City. In 1890, they resided on 3rd Avenue between 16th and 17th in National City. Austin was an active member of the National City Fire Department Active Hose No. 1 during this period.

The San Diego Union announced in the August 24, 1889 edition that:

"Mr. and Mrs. H.A. Carringer rejoice in the arrival of a bright faced boy, who tips the scales at nine pounds."

Devier David Carringer (named after his grandfathers, Davier Smith and David Jackson Carringer) was born on August 19, 1889. The joy turned to sorrow when Devier suddenly died on May 10, 1890. A remembrance card with gold lettering on a black background reads:

"One less at home, The charmed circle broken -- a dear face missed day by day from its usual place. But cleansed, saved, perfected by grace, One more in heaven.

"One less on earth, its pain, its sorrow, and its toil to share. One less the pilgrim's daily cross to bear. One more the crown of the blessed to wear, At home in heaven."

The family archives include several letters from the extended Smith family in Kansas and the extended Carringer family in Pennsylvania that try to reassure the family that it was God's will. The death of baby Devier apparently caused Austin to renounce his Christian faith.

Lyle Lawrence Carringer was born 2 November 1891 in a house at 16th and H Streets in San Diego. There are several letters to the Carringer family in Colorado describing Lyle's childhood. An 1895 family picture shows the family in front of a hat shop with Lyle sitting in a wagon, Austin with a bicycle, Abigail (Vaux) Smith, and Edgar Carringer (austin's bachelor brother).

In 1893, the family lived at 28th Street and Logan Avenue in San Diego. In 1895 Della was an art teacher in a studio at 29th and Logan.

In 1894, Della Carringer bought a lot of land in San Diego for $450. The lot was bounded by Ella (now 30th Street), Watkins Avenue (now Hawthorn Street), Horton (now Ivy Street) and Fern Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of San Diego. Her mother, Abbie (Vaux) Smith also bought a lot on the same block. Austin built a house on the southwestern corner of the block at Ella and Watkins Streets (now 30th and Hawthorn Streets) facing Watkins Street. They occupied the house by 1898 until their deaths in 1946 and 1944, respectively.

A photograph taken in 1900 shows the house with Austin, Della, Lyle, Austin's parents D.J. and Rebecca, his brother Edgar, Della's mother Abbie (Vaux) Smith, and the family horse. After the house was built, they used a horse-drawn surrey to transport themselves and their neighbors to the nearest streetcar line at 16th and Broadway.

Austin continued working at the Russ Lumber and Mill Company until at least 1903. He worked as a carpenter or machinist until 1917, when he became an aviation mechanic at the U.S. Army Aviation Station at Rockwell Field (now North Island Naval Air Station) in Coronado. He was the foreman in the wood and fabric section of the airplane repair shop for ten years, and retired on his 79th birthday with 15 years of service in 1932. His coworkers gave him a letter of appreciation and a big, easy chair.

The family home was moved to the middle of the block as 2115 30th Street in about 1927, and the house front porch was modified so that it faced south. A second story flat was created by adding to the existing rooms, and an external staircase was built to 2119 30th Street. The structure was then stuccoed over so that the original frame of the house could not be discerned.

The San Diego Union of September 11, 1937 has an article headlined "Honeymoon Trip to S.D. Extends Half a Century", with a picture of Austin and Della entitled "True Vowers View Letters on Golden Wedding Day". In the article, Della says "We have lived here on this corner for 39 years. We built this house. On our lot we have planted and grown most every kind of fruit and vegetable that grows in California. Flowers always have been my hobby."

Della designed some of their furniture, and was a painter. She was quoted on their philosophy of life: "We have worked hard as partners and tried always to be kind and helpful to others. After all, we are of the opinion that this is the best religion to make a happy and successful life." The article says that Austin did all of the finishing on their home and also built some of their beautiful furniture.

Austin died in 1946 and is remembered by Betty (Carringer) Seaver as being tall and very demanding in his old age. Della died in 1944 and is remembered as being small and wrinkled. They are inurned in Cypress View Mausoleum (Bronze Corridor, Niche 61) in San Diego.

Genealogy Blogs

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I get nearly all of my genealogy "news" daily from a number of well written blogs, rather than from magazines or emails.

The ones I read daily include:

Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy News blog is absolutely necessary to stay informed about the world of genealogy. He has several posts daily.

Genealogy Blog is a news oriented blog with several posts daily.

Random Genealogy is another general news blog, with daily posts.

The Genealogue provides a daily dose of humor and irony - Chris Dunham does a nice job with it. He has genealogy top ten lists, a wry view of stories not on the front page of your newspaper, and a number of other unique pages. He even linked to my blog before it was well known .

Genealogy Education is Ken Aitken's blog for genealogy educators, librarians, program planners and speakers. I enjoy Ken's expertise and he stimulates thinking on my part, and I usually can't help myself from responding to his questions!

The 24/7 Family History Circle blog is Juliana Smith's successor to her Ancestry Daily News email. In addition to the usual articles and columns by Ancestry regulars, she has book and movie reviews and a photo corner, all submitted by readers.

George G. Morgan's blog provides his "Along Those Lines" articles. George has written many articles for Ancestry over the years.

Michael John Neill's blog provides links to some of his Ancestry articles and also a regular census lookup challenge.

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak's blog provides news and her thoughts on genealogy issues, and links to her Honoring Our Ancestors and Genetic Genealogy web pages.

Those are the blogs I read regularly to get my daily dose of genealogy news, humor and information.

Can you recommend more genealogy blogs? Tell me!