Sunday, May 17, 2009

Best of the Genea-Blogs - May 10-16, 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:

* Browning v. Beck, pt. 4 - Famous By Association? and Browning v. Beck, Pt 5 - “State Your Name For The Record, Please?” by Patti Browning on the Consanguinity blog. Patti's series continues - this is a great example of doing a reasonably exhaustive search and then analyzing the case to obtain useful research results.

* Memory Monday - My Blog Gets Acknowledgement at Church Service by Drusilla Pair on the Find Your Folks blog. Dru went visiting cousins in Virginia, was invited to church, and then she and her blog were part of the sermon! Because of this, she met several more cousins in attendance. Great article, Dru.

* Search Strategies for Finding Ship Passenger Lists 1820-1940s by Joe Beine on the Genealogy Roots Blog. Joe provides a comprehensive summary of ship passenger lists for the 1820-1940 time period. Well done! A keeper - I love posts like this!

* Technology, obstacle or benefit to genealogy by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. Is technology really good for genealogy? Should the BCG and ICAPGEN boards recognize online genealogy as a specialty of its own? Read James' piece and decide for yourself.

* America's Obituaries - incomplete by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John goes looking for obituaries that he knows were written, but cannot find them online no matter that they should be. His wisdom is that "No online database should really be assumed complete." Amen!

* Places to Find Documents, Records and Manuscripts by Gena Philibert-Ortega on the Gena's Genealogy blog. Gena has a special card trhat she hands out at her talks - it looks really useful as a checklist of places to go.

* Can You Say Genealogical Jackpot? by Caroline M. Pointer on the Family Stories blog. We should all be so lucky as Caroline - see what visiting your in-laws can do for you? I hope she has a great time finding the real goodies in her treasure trove.

* NGS 2009 - It's ON!, NGS 2009 Conference Recap for May 12, NGS 2009 Conference Recap for May 13, NGS 2009 Conference Recap for May 14, NGS 2009 Conference Recap for May 15, and NGS 2009 Conference Recap for May 16 by Amy Coffin on the We Tree blog. Amy was the first of the geneas-bloggers to provide daily hour-by-hour of her NGS experiences. Every time I read her post, I though "gee, I wish I was there."

* NGS Day One by Pat Richley on the DearMYRTLE Genealogy Blog. Pat started out so well with her NGS reports, and I guess was overtaken by events or the social swirl. Perhaps she will post about the other days at NGS as well.

* Report #1: NGS 2009 Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, Report #2: , Report #3: and Report #4: by CGS member Jeffrey Vaillant on the California Genealogical Society and Library blog. Jeffrey provided reports about his days at the NGS conference.

* Family Curator Visits NEHGS Spring Research Getaway 2009, Part 3: Researching at NEHGS by Denise on The Family Curator blog. Denise continues her serial posts about her visit to NEHGS. Makes me want to go on the next New England Research Weekend they have!

* Genealogy and Social Networking – a Perfect Partnership by Carolyn Barkley on the GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com blog. The real gem in this post is the interview with Drew Smith who wrote the book Social Networking for Genealogists.

* Shock and Awe by Brenda Dougall Merriman on the Brenda Dougall Merriman blog. Brenda's book, United Empire Loyalists: A Guide to Tracing Loyalist Ancestors in Upper Canada, won the NGS 2008 Award for Excellence: Genealogical Methods and Sources. Well done, blogger Brenda! I can hardly wait to read this book. I have several Loyalists in my ancestry!

*Ancestry.com: New Search and International Updates by Diane Haddad on The Genealogy Insider blog. This is the only post I found that summarized the genealogy blogger meeting at NGS hosted by Ancestry.com. Thanks, Diane! I wonder who else was there? Is there a picture?

* NGS 2009 Highlights Thus Far by Dean Richardson on the Genlighten Blog - Genealogy Documented blog. Dean summarizes his experiences from an exhibitor's view.

* Penelope Dreadful: Dear Mama - My Dear Girls by Denise Levenick on footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog. Oh my, Miss Penny found a floral postcard that led to, oh my, you have to read all about it!

* Free Websites for New Mexico Genealogists by Robert J.C. Baca on the New Mexico Genealogical Society blog. Robert posts the handout from the NMGS talk on "Internet Genealogy." Nice list!!! A keeper.

* Amateur vs Professional by Arlene H. Eakle on the Arlene Eakle's Virginia Blog. Arlene is great at researching and telling stories - it's called experience - and has some interesting advice in this post about traditional resources.

* IN PERSON: Ernie is Still Alive by Ernie Margheim on the Ernie's Journeys blog. Ernie shows us pictures and tells us stories about his stay in the care center, and likens it to a Hilton Hotel. We are all happy that Ernie is recovering well and has started blogging again! Stop by Ernie's blogpost and give him some blog love.

* We Are the Future of Genealogy by Denise Olson on the Family Matters blog. Denise ponders the future of genealogy after reading Lisa Alzo's article, and decides it is US! Cool.

* The Carnival's In Town - Smile for the Camera, All Creatures Great and Small by footnoteMaven on the Shades of the Departed blog. The 13th Smile for the Camera Carnival features 27 submissions from six countries - all about their favorite creatures.

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.

2 comments:

Professor Dru said...

Thanks for the recognition, Randy.

Professor Dru said...

Thank you to Randy Seaver, http://findyourfolks.blogspot.com/2009/05/randy-seaver-of-genea-musings.html