Sunday, August 24, 2008

Best of the Genea-Blogs - Week of August 17-23, 2008

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 Carnival of Genealogy, 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:

* The Mystery of Baby Samuel by Elizabeth O'Neal on the Little Bytes of Life blog. You have to read Elizabeth's tale about a special baby - what a great piece of work tying family to research. This story really touched me.

* Baby Samuel: Some Answers, More Questions by Kathryn M. Doyle on the California Genealogical Society and Library blog. Kathryn reports what three researchers at CGS found out about Baby Samuel's family. Another labor of love. Wouldn't it be great if a relative of baby Samuel found these posts and learned more about his/her family as a result?

* The 1918 Flu Epidemic by Gena Philibert Ortega on Gena's Genealogy blog. Gena tells about the flu epidemic in 1918 and how it affected families and society in general.

* The Problem With Pauline - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 by Sheri Fenley on The Educated Genealogist blog. Sheri tells the story of her search for what happened to Mary Pauline Sheern... and it's a complicated story! One we should all think about in our own research for elusive ancestors. Excellent detective work and writing. [Yes, I know two of these posts are dated earlier than last week - but they weren't published that week, they were finished this week.]

* Database review: Ancestry.com's Map Collection, 1513-1990 by the male person who writes The Ancestry Insider blog. Mr. AI writes about Ancestry.com sourcing and image resolution for their map collection. Interesting comments, too.

* Edmund Bacon Frees an Enslaved Woman by J.L. Bell on the Boston 1775 blog. Mr. Bell has been analyzing the Jefferson-Hemings situation based on documents in the Monticello collection. This particular one is about Harriet Hemings, who married a white man and "passed" in Washington DC society. I wonder if anyone knows who she was? For a fascinating take on the Jefferson-Hemings situation and Monticello, read Mr. Bell's series of excellent and well-researched posts.

* It is Well With My Soul: A Family History in Song and Images by Thomas MacEntee on the Destination: Austin Family blog. Thomas describes the background for the Christian song, has a video of the song, and tells how it has touched his life. Read the Terry Thornton post that inspired Thomas' post too - it has the lyrics to It Is Well With My Soul. A two-fer here!

* Stores of Yesteryear Roundup by Lori Thornton on the Smoky Mountain Family Historian blog. Lori provides the roundup of her meme about the stores we remember from our childhood.

* Road Trip Pt1, Road Trip Pt2 and Yoder's Farm by Bill West on the West in New England blog. Bill goes travelling west (where else?) with his sister Cheryl to Pennsylvania and Ohio and tells us about the trip in these posts. Something tells me that this series has just started! I love genealogy road trip stories!

* DearMYRTLE's Study Group: Update 19 August 2008 by Pat Richley on the Teach Genealogy Blog. I love reading about Pat's study group escapades - they often give me new ideas for our monthly Research Group effort.

* August 22 - Friday from the Collectors: A Thousand Words Lost by guest blogger Bob Franks on footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog. Bob, who writes the Itawamba (MS) History Review blog and several others, tells a sad story about an old portrait, and encourages readers and researchers to go looking in historical society archives for old pictures, photographs and the like.

Thank you to all genealogy bloggers for an interesting and informative week. Did you notice some new blogs on this list? I hope so!

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 - we all appreciate feedback on what we write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? I'm sure I did, because I didn't have much time to read this week. Tell me!


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4 comments:

Sheri Fenley said...

Again I thank you "Your Blogship". Don't you just love Pauline!

But wait, there's more coming. Remember her husband, poor old George Sanford the dentist? Wait until you hear about what he has been up to while Pauline/Helen was in Boise!

I'd mow you lawn any day!

Sheri

Bill West said...

Randy,
Thanks for the mention. It really
was a fun trip!

Bill

DearMYRTLE said...

Thanks for the kind words, Randy! It is even more fun to participate in these monthly study groups. Brainstorming is the name of the game!

Myrt :)

Kathryn Doyle said...

Hi Randy,
Thanks for including the CGSL blog in your picks for last week. The society has so many dedicated volunteers. It's great to see their work acknowledged so visibly.