Sunday, September 5, 2010

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 29 August to 4 September 2010

Hundreds of 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:

* There's Always One by Donna Pointkouski on the What's Past is Prologue blog. Donna is perhaps the best genea-humorist writing today - read this and laugh! Where does she get these pictures?

* Salt Lake Family History Expo 2010 - Day 2 by Renee Zamora on Renee's Genealogy Blog. Renee recaps her second day the the Family History Expo in Sandy, Utah.

* Connecting the Genealogist to the Research -- an online conundrum by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. James continues the discussion started by Martin Hollick on "Shepardizing Your Genealogy" about having a standard list of authoritative sources for ancestral families, genealogical judges, and more.

* The People Differences in Virginia: a Checklist of Characteristics by Arlene Eakle on Arlene Eakle's Virginia Genealogy Blog. Arlene provides an interesting list of characteristics for different groups that settled in or resided in Virginia.

* Zero to Search Success in Sixty Seconds by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog. Mr. AI recounts Anastasia Harman's presentation about the five different types of searches on Ancestry.com.

* GYRabbit Carnival - September 2010 by footnoteMaven on The Graveyard Rabbit blog. The theme for this Carnival, with five entries, is A Local Celebrity in our Mist.

* Names: How do you say that? by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on the MyHeritage Genealogy Blog. Schelly should know about the problems with pronouncing names, and she gives some good examples on how to deal with the problem. I always wonder if I'm spelling her name correctly, and found out that I've been pronouncing Talalay incorrectly (and she never chided me about it - thanks Schelly!).

* Is Genealogy a Hobby? by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. Is it only a hobby? Lorine and her readers discuss the issue using terms like avocation, obsession and sacred trust.

* Defining the Genealogical Pursuit by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John comments on Lorine's post, and picks words like labor of love, quest, pursuit, adventure and compulsion.

* DNA Rule-Out for Cold Case, Australia, 1970 - Part I and Part II by Colleen Fitzpatrick on the Identifinders blog. This series gives readers a good idea of how hard it is to find mitochondrial matches of a living or dead person. A fascinating DNA/genealogy detective story.

* Treasure Chest Thursday: Genealogy in the 1940s by the writer of the Nolichucky Roots blog. Here's a glimpse of how several people pursued their avocation back in the 1940s. Interesting.

* Carnival of Genealogy, 97th Edition by Jasia on the Creative Gene blog. There were nine entries in this Carnival with the theme of Research From Scratch! . Dorene Paul's piece on Learning More about Joseph Willmann posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay was the featured post.

Other "Best of..." weekly pick posts are here:

* Follow Friday: 3 September 2010 by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Bog. Greta picks her faves too, and they are all good.

* Weekly Genealogy Picks by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John highlights blog posts, carnivals, press releases and more, plus he links to several other weekly pick posts.

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 670 genealogy bloggers using Bloglines, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

3 comments:

Schelly Talalay Dardashti said...

Hi, Randy,
Thanks for the pointer to the MyHeritage Genealogy Blog post!

And thank you also for your weekly roundup. Some good reading is listed.

with best wishes
Schelly

Donna - What's Past is Prologue said...

Thanks, Randy! I somehow missed your "Best of" this week...until I wondered why I had so much traffic yesterday. I'd hardly call myself "the best" but I appreciate your vote of confidence. Nothing makes me happier than hearing I made someone laugh!

Donna

Susan Clark said...

Thanks for the mention, Randy. I look forward to your roundup and it was a treat to garner a mention! It's nice to know that someone else found the 1940s letters interesting. They were determined souls to wind up in Warrensburg, TN!

Susan