Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Geneablogging Works: Bloodgood Family Information

...
One of the reasons that I have posted so many Surname Saturday posts (I'm up to number 239 on my ancestral name list) is that it can be extremely productive in finding cousins.  In my Surname Saturday posts, I list the names of each family with the specific surname.  Sometimes the posting pays off, big time!

Such was the case with last Saturday's post - Surname Saturday - GACH/GAGE (??? > New Jersey).  One of the Gach spouses was Elizabeth Bloodgood (born 1703 in New York to John and Mary (Morgan) Bloodgood).

I received an email last night from Howard Swain that pointed me to the article:

 Howard L. Swain, "Frans Bloodgood (Bloedtgoedt) of Flushing, New York," New Netherland Connections, Volume 12, Number 1 (January, February, March 2007); online archives, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org) : accessed 31 May 2011), pages 1-11.

Since I have an NEHGS membership, I knew that New Netherland Connections was on their website, www.AmericanAncestors.org.  I quickly captured the 11 pages in the article, printed them off, and now have more information about this colonial American family line, than I had previously.  The research is well sourced, the narrative is well written, and is much appreciated.  Thank you Howard!

As a bonus, Howard gave me the information that a companion article, that covers the Bloetgoet family in Holland, was published immediately after his article:

John Blythe Dobson, "The earliest generations of the Goetbloet alias Bloetgoet family" New Netherland Connections, Volume 12, Number 1 (January, February, March 2007); online archives, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org) : accessed 31 May 2011), pages 12-15.

Needless to say, another superb, well sourced, article!

Yep, Geneablogging works great!

I've found quite a few articles on my early New York and New Jersey ancestors in New Netherland Connections on www.AmericanAncestors.org.  I need to go revisit the entire collection just to make sure I haven't missed another elusive ancestral family.

Genealogists should realize that using resources like published books and periodical articles is not "researching."  It is really "searching" what has been published before by other researchers.  The information in these resources needs to be evaluated for their completeness, accuracy and relevance.  If the information is lacking, then the available assertions can be used as "finding aids" to obtain more original source material with primary information to be used as evidence in a proof argument.

My usual practice is to enter the information into my database, with the source being the published work, and a summary of the author's research in my notes. 

No comments: