Sunday, December 30, 2007

Best of the Genea-blogs - December 23-29, 2007

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week. My criteria are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy, or are funny and/or poignant. I don't list posts destined for the Carnival of Genealogy, or my own posts (hopefully, others will do that!).

* "Trying Again Pays Off Again: Updating The 'French Negroes of Illinois'" and "Important Genealogical Tip: Try, Try Again" by Craig Manson on the Geneablogie blog. Craig hits a double jackpot finding information about two family lines by revisiting web sites and searching using name variations. Wise man!

* "An Olmsted Rediscovered: Adventures in Online Genealogy Blogging" by Tim Abbott on the Walking the Berkshires blog. Tim was contacted by a student doing cemetery research and reaps the reward of posting information on his blog.

* "The Discontinuation of 'Along These Lines...'" by George G. Morgan on the George G. Morgan "Along These Lines..." Blog. George says goodbye to his blogging adventure as he moves on to other endeavors. I will miss George's weekly columns because he always had interesting and helpful things to say.

* "Resources for Irish Genealogical Research from a Beginner's Perspective" by Miriam Midkiff on the Ancestories: Stories of My Ancestors blog. Miriam is almost ready to research her Irish relatives, and provides an excellent list to start with. I don't have any Irish ancestry, but am occasionally asked about it, so this will provide a good reference point.

* "Four Major Don'ts of Family Research" by Summer Owens on the Genealogy, Family History and Temple Work blog. Summer has good advice here about pursuing research - they are all true and should be remembered.

* "Famous DNA Review, Part III - Niall of the Nine Hostages" by Blaine Bettinger on The Genetic Genealogist blog. Blaine posts an excellent summary of the situation with this Famous DNA. Check out his other two Famous DNA articles also.

* "The treat ..." by G. on the how to survive suburban life blog. This is the second Chestnut story she's written - I always feel like I'm there by her side when she writes posts like these.

* "A More Powerful Way to Search" by Kendall Hulet on the Ancestry.com Blog. Kendall responds to Ancestry user complaints about the Basic Search options, and demonstrates using the Advanced Search box, which allows you to specify exact or inexact names, dates and places. This is a powerful tool.

* "Researcher's Virtual Toolbox Updated" by Denise Olson on the Family Matters blog. Denise added a few tools to her researcher's toolbox and shares them with us - a good list.

* "Smart Matching 2.0 Released!" by Gilad Japhet on the MyHeritage Blog. Gilad describes and demonstrates this excellent research tool that is free on the MyHeritage site.

That's my list of the best from this past week - what did I miss? Tell me and I'll add it to my list if I like it too.

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