Sunday, July 13, 2008

Best of the Genea-Blogs - July 6-12, 2008

Several hundred genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the Carnival of Genealogy, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

* Jesse Helms - A Fatal Case of Pedigree Collapse? by Sharon Elliott on the BackTrack blog. Sharon comes back to genea-blogging with an interesting analysis about pedigree collapse. I met Sharon at the Blogger Summit and told her that we missed her blog.

* Roots and Truth in Genealogy by Taneya Koonce on Taneya's Genealogy Blog. Taneya delves into the genealogy behind Alex Haley's Roots story - truth or fiction? She, and her commenters, do agree that nothing can take away the impact the book had on people of all ethnicities.

* The Jamboree Microphone Incident by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak on the Roots Television: Megan's Roots World blog. Megan tells the first-person story about having the microphone battery pack slip, well, um, read the article. At the Blogger Summit, I had to make the comment "was it a genea-gasm?" Megan's off to the Baltics on the Legacy cruise with Myrtle and others - I hope they have fun.

* Dr. Spencer Wells: Deep Ancestry and The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey with Dr. Spencer Wells by T.K. on the Before My Time blog. T.K. has several videos on these subjects all in two places - I nice collection!

* Simple Gifts by Tim Abbott on the Walking the Berkshires blog. Tim and his extended family remember his dearly departed grandmother in unique ways. This is a wonderful family history story.

* Do Not! I Repeat - Do Not Read This Post! by footnoteMaven on the footnoteMaven blog. fM told us not to read it, but who can resist? Not this br'er rabbit... and many genea-bloggers enjoyed the ride. Did anybody try the Drunken Slur?

* Why I do genealogy web review by Janet Hovorka on The Chart Chick blog. Janet reviews her reasons for doing genealogy research - they're all good! Check the articles on her links, too.

* Planning Your Successful Research Trip by Carolyn Barkley on the GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com blog. Excellent advice, and links to other articles on the subject.

* July 11 - Friday from the Collectors: For the Love of Photos by Cathi Basler on footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog. Cathi shares some of her found treasures and how she runs her eBay store business.

* Why do we pursue genealogy and what do we like about it? by Dean Richardson on the Genlighten blog. Dean provides more survey results about these topics - interesting answers.

* A Memorable Visit by Craig Manson on the Geneablogie blog. Craig tells the "rest of the story" about his visit to L.A. - a visit that he will always remember, and one we all wish we had made with our own elderly family members. She had him going, didn't she?

I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blog to your Favorites, Bloglines, reader, feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - we all appreciate feedback on what we write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me!

1 comment:

footnoteMaven said...

Randy:

Thanksh hic! for the mentionsh. I appreciate hic! the linksh and I've hic! found shome hic! new and intereshtin' blogsh hic! through your "Besht Of."

Oh, sorry. That was my Drunkin' Slur dialect.

fM