Sunday, April 22, 2012

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 15 to 21 April 2012

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: 


*  What's a blog for, anyway? by Pat Richley-Erickson on DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog.  Pat reflects on how she started blogging, and then got into podcasting and webinars, and now on social media.  She's still helping others!

*  Tips from My First Courthouse Research by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.  Diane has great guidelines for those venturing to a local courthouse to search for records.

*  How to be a total genealogical computer geek by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  Funny...pretty much spot on.

*  Reversion of dower by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog.  Judy neatly explains a complicated series of  land deals.  Even I understand it now!

*  A Caveat about Online Digital Newspapers by Taneya Koonce on Taneya's Genealogy Blog.  Taneya has a timely warning about online newspaper searches.

*  Trefusis, Part 4 -- The Farm, Part 5 - Bradford on Tone, Part 6 - The Archives (and she scores!) by Janet Hovorka on The Chart Chick blog.  Janet (finally) continues her story of searching for an ancestral home, ancestral church and records in the English countryside.

* #1940census Image Viewer Comparison by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog.  Mr. AI reviews the 1940 Census image viewer capabilities of the different providers.  This parallels my own experience. Interesting comment about viewing the 1940 census on an iPad.

*  How a Family History Storyteller Uses Tech by guest poster Gavin Rymill on Caroline Pointer's 4 Your Family Story blog.  Here's a wonderful example of applying 21st century genea-techonlogy to family history research.

*  His Name was Józef Pater by Donna Pointkouski on the What's Past is Prologue blog.  What a beautiful, and profoundly sad, tribute to a patriot and a man in Donna's ancestral families.

*  Getting Stumped on Zane's Trace by Bill Dollarhide on Leland Meitzler's GenealogyBlog blog.  Bill is an expert on things like this.  

*  A partial review of Michael Sharpe's Family Matters: A History of Genealogy by Drew Smith on the Rootsmithing blog.  This sounds like a really interesting book!

*  Thankful Thursday - the Poor Non-Genealogical Spouse by Kris Stewart on the My Link to the Past blog.  Excellent post that many can relate to.  You have to hear the song her husband sings!

*  Shades: Birthday Edition --  compiled by Denise Levenick on The Family Curator blog.  Read this compendium of funny, mysterious and wonderful posts! Happy Birthday to footnoteMaven (who is in the hospital with life-threatening infection and needs our prayers).

Several genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week, including: 

*  Monday Morning Mentions by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog.

*  Monday Recap for April 16, 2012 by Amanda on the Geni Blog.

*  Ruth's Recommendations by Ruth Blair on The Passionate Genealogist blog.

*  Genealogy Round-Up, April 19 by Megan Smolenyak on Megan Smolenyak's Roots World blog.

*  Follow Friday:This Weeks Favorite Finds by Jen on the Climbing My Family Tree blog.

*  Genealogy News Corral, April 16-20 by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.

I encourage readers to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Google Reader, RSS 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 1200 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.


Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

The URL for this post is: 
http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/04/best-of-genea-blogs-15-to-21-april-2012.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

4 comments:

Judy G. Russell, CG said...

Randy, you're too kind. Thanks!!

Susan Kitchens said...

Randy, I'd like to call your attention to a post I wrote about using the 1940 census as an oral history conversation sparker with my mother, who was 7 years old at the time the census took place.

http://familyoralhistory.us/articles/view/1940_census_and_an_interview_with_mama/

Taneya said...

thx for the inclusion of my blog post! :-)

Mike B said...

Great list of hot blogs. Is there such a list for the latest greatest podcasts?