Sunday, September 27, 2009

Best of the Genea-Blogs - September 20-26, 2009

Best of the Genea-Blogs returns as a weekly feature of Genea-Musings. I've read all of the blog posts over the past four weeks but have been unable to write the posts each week due to time constraints while on vacation and at my daughters last week taking care of my grandsons.

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:

* WSGS State Conference: Day One, WSGS State Conference: Day Two, WSGS State Conference: Day Three by Miriam Midkiff on the Ancestories: The Stories of my Ancestors blog. Miriam was one of the organizers of this conference, which featured Megan Smolenyak. These posts describe Miriam's activities during the conference, and includes a great picture of Megan and Miriam.

* The future of family history by John D. Reid on the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog. John was on a panel at the BIFHSGO conference recently and reprises his comments on this subject.

* Just Try Another Window by Lee Drew on the FamHist blog. Lee discovered some new search techniques while looking for a Utah Death Certificate, including looking at the helpful search tips.

* SNGF – Ahnentafel Roulette by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog. This is the compilation of the blog posts submitted for last week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun about one person in bloggers ahnentafels. Quite a collection - mainly great-great-grandparents! Thomas has this type of collection pretty automated now - it's a great service to all of us.

* How to recover from a genealogy cruise by Geoff Rasmussen on the Legacy News blog. Looks like everyone had a grand time in genealogy classes and on shore during this cruise. It sounds like a wonderful trip.

* Simon says do you remember these games? by Larry Lehmer on the Passing It On blog. Larry has a great list of the childhood games played years ago and wonders if children play them now. Any comments?

* The 23rd edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy by Ambar Diaz on the Still More Genealogy blog. Ambar was the hostess for this monthly carnival with 11 blog posts by seven authors.

* You Can't Get Rid of That! I'll just take it home with me. and You Can't Get Rid of That - Continued by Terri Kallio on The Ties That Bind blog. Terri's post described what many of us go through when we're dealing with our elders, especially if we are family historians!

* Taxation Can Be A Good Thing by Carolyn L. Barkley on the GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com blog. An excellent article about tax records - be happy if you find them!

* BIFHSGO Conference - Panel Discussion, BIFHSGO Conference - LAC Comments and BIFHSGO Conference - Walkabout by Elisabeth Lapointe on the Genealogy Canada blog. Elisabeth provides some overviews of the recent BIFHSGO conference in Ottawa, with lots of pictures!

* Grass Roots Organizing at Its Best by Dick Eastman on the Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter blog. There is good news for some Massachusetts genealogists - a new group is forming in Southborough. Dick describes the action, and volunteers his expertise.

* Jamie the Intern Bids Family Tree Farewell by Jamie on The Genealogy Insider blog. Family Tree Magazine hired Jamie as a summer intern and she discovered some of her ancestry in the process. She's a good writer too!

* Will the Real Pointkouski Great-Grandparents Please Stand Up? by Donna Pointkouski in her The Humor Of It column in footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog. Donna's missing some photos of her great-grandparents, and wonders if some she found online are hers.

* My College Days at Age 76 by Ernie Margheim on the Ernie's Journeys blog. My favorite young-at-heart geneablogger tells one of his life stories - we all need to hear stories like this from our elders.

* Researching With Maps by Ruby Coleman on the Genealogy Lines blog. Ruby has a nice list of online map sites in this helpful post.

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! I am currently reading posts from over 510 genealogy bloggers using Bloglines, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another great collection! Glad to see the Best of the Genea-Blogs return. I've missed it.

Terri said...

Thank you Randy! Isn't it amazing how it is so difficult to part with the littlest of things of our parents - let alone our own things.
Terri

Miriam Robbins said...

I, too, have missed the Best of the Genea-Blogs, and am honored that you selected my posts to highlight. Thank you!