Sunday, January 25, 2009

Best of the Genea-blogs - Week of January 18-24, 2009

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 genealogy carnivals, 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:

* Genealogy and the economy by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on the Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog. Schelly follows up several other blogger posts with her opinions, and makes excellent sense.

* How to share your family history with your family - surround yourself by Janet Hovorka on The Chart Chick blog. Janet continues her series on sharing with great ideas. Check out the photos too.

* Putting flesh on the bones by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. Lorine does a wonderful job of doing just that with stories of her great-grandmother and her husband, and hopes that someone in her family has pictures of her.

* Cabinet of Curiosities #13 (Baker's Dozen Edition) by Tim Abbott on the Walking the Berkshires blog. There are eight interesting curiosities presented by bloggers, and Tim added several more oddities to the list on his own accord.

* Everything you ever wanted to know by John D. Reid on The Anglo-Celtic Connection blog. John takes TGN/Ancestry to task over navigation, database content and corrections - valid points.

* Tech Tuesday: Homework (Still) Pays Off! by Denise Levenick on The Family Curator blog. Denise lists her favorite web places for technical matters - nice list!

* The key to Ireland: Genealogists seek out their Irish roots by Lisa at The Small-Leaved Shamrock blog. Lisa posted the 11th Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture, which had 16 entries from genea-bloggers. I'm green with envy - I wish I had some Irish ancestors! The next Carnival topic will be a St. Patrick's Day Parade.

* Tax Records Online by Gena Philibert-Ortega on the Gena's Genealogy blog. These are really hard-to-find records, and Gena has discussed what is available on the Internet and other sources for tax records.

* The Essence of Family Ready by the blogger who writes the Generations Gone By Weblog. What a fascinating story about GGB's mother - how she supported her family, has changed over the years since her husband died, and is a blessing to all.

* The Problem With Pauline - Part 9 - Some Fun With Dr. George B. Sanford by Sheri Fenley on The Educated Genealogist blog. Sheri takes us on a side trip to visit her dentist ancestor in this ongoing research saga.

* Mars, Venus & Genealogy by Lori Thornton on the Smoky Mountain Family Historian blog. Lori poses an intriguing question - do male genealogists hide in their caves and female genealogists share a lot? Tell her!

* The Slesinski Sisters: Part 1 - The Photographs; Part 2 - The Research; and Part 3 - Research Confirmed by Donna Pointkouski on the What's Past Is Prologue blog. Donna presents a fascinating case study about five sisters, including her great-grandmother. She shows the pictures, finds the evidence, and draws conclusions to identify all of the parties involved.

* A Shot - Part 3: The Botched Burial by footnoteMaven on the Shades of the Departed blog. fM finishes this unbelievable story about a murder in San Francisco and the outcome of the trial and burial.

* Slow Burn to War by Lee Drew on the FamHist blog. Lee discusses the events leading up to the Revolutionary War, and the parts some of his ancestors played in the war.

* Take Some Time for Relaxation – Genealogical Fiction by Carolyn Barkley on the GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com blog. Carolyn has a nice list of genealogy-oriented fiction books, and links to other lists too. I've been waiting for someone to do this!

* Weekly Rewind by Apple on the Apple's Tree blog. Apple's weekly summary highlights many other blog posts, and provides insight into her genealogy week too. Check out her slide show too!

* The Power of Words by Sean Sexton on the Sean on Family History blog. Sean experimented with making Tag clouds of presidential inaugural speeches. He found out some interesting things!

* My Box of Blog Food by Becky Jamieson on the Grace and Glory blog. Becky hit the jackpot with a box in her dad's storage area - lots of goodies to keep her posting about them for a long time. We should all be so lucky!

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 - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

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

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Randy,

Once again, I'm honored. And, despite all of the blogs I read, you always manage to direct me to a new site! Thanks AGAIN for highlighting my work. In our community, I consider it a high honor indeed.

Donna

Lisa / Smallest Leaf said...

Thanks for the mention of the 11th Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture, Randy. No need to be green with envy, you can join us for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day edition, Irish roots or not! Hope to see you and your readers there!

Lisa

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

Thanks for the links and the mention Randy!

Are there any M&M's left?

Olive Tree Genealogy said...

Randy - thanks so much for the mention of my great grandmother Mary Elizabeth Vollick (Putting Flesh on the Bones)

I love reading your weekly list, I always find something new and interesting to read, often on a blog that is also new to me.

Lorine

Family Curator said...

Thanks for the note, Randy. Your weekly round-up is one of my must-do stops. I always find a wonderful treasure listed, and I am honored to be included.

Denise

Janet Hovorka said...

Thanks Randy. You are the greatest.
Janet