Monday, September 29, 2008

Best of the Genea-Blogs - September 21-27, 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 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:

* How to share your family history with your family - Books by Janet Hovorka on The Chart Chick blog. Janet shares some of the family books that her mother has produced over the years - we should all be so lucky! Janet's point is that we all need to do this so that our descendants feel lucky and spoiled by us.

* Wizards! by Denise Olson on the Family Matters blog. Denise shares some OpenOffice Wizards secrets that sound very useful. You do know what a wizard is, right? No, not Gandalf...check Denise's post for good information.

* Road Trip The Finale by Bill West on the West in New England blog. Bill finishes his road trip saga with stories about Washington DC, the trip back to New England, and a picture of him with his sister, Cheryl.

* Internet Privacy by Lori Thornton on the Smoky Mountain Family Historian blog. Lori explains why she didn't participate in the Getting to Know Me meme, and tells about the homework she gives her students so that they understand internet privacy issues.

* Marianne Gets Her Due by Colleen on the Orations of OMcHoDoy blog. Colleen's Aunt Marianne represents a group of citizens in an Encyclopedia of Disability in America to be published by the group Facts on File.

* Family Tree Maker Web Sites and Links by Russ Worthington on the Family Tree Maker Users blog. Russ posted a very helpful list of tutorials and help sites for FTM users.

* Canadian Genealogy Carnival - 1st Edition the blogger on the Looking4Ancestors blog. This first Carnival of Canadian Genealogy had nine entries - all excellent pieces (someone at Genea-Musings forgot to put it on the calendar...). The topic next month is "My Famous Canadian Ancestor."

* Jooce.com by Tom Pearson on the MoSGA Messenger blog. Tom links to a free web-based program that lets you access your uploaded files from any internet-capable computer.

* Carnival of Eastern European Genealogy - First (Given) Names by Steve Danko on Steve's Genealogy Blog. Steve hosted the 11th Carnival and had 8 entries.

* Facts Right Under My Nose by Travis Lemaster on the TJLGenes - Preserving our Family History blog. Travis reviews his computer and paper files and finds some treasures that he forgot he had.

* Geni Person Pages by Thomas MacEntee on the Destination: Austin Family blog. Thomas takes a detailed test drive of Geni's person pages and likes (pretty much) what he sees.

* LiveRoots by David on the Family History Tracing blog. David (formerly known as X-Faith) visits this new web site which goes live on 10 October. Read Illya's comment too for more helpful information.

* Top of the class: Family historians set goals for Irish Research by Lisa on the Small-Leaved Shamrock blog. Lisa hosted the 8th Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture and had 12 participants. The theme for this carnival was making research plans.

* Time for a Distraction by footnoteMaven on the footnoteMaven blog. fM challenges genea-bloggers to describe their life in Sorted Book spine titles.

* Friday from the Collectors - September 26: Storytelling with Photos by Kim O'Neill Screen on footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog. Kim (who writes about books at Good Stock) provides useful tips for effectively using photographs while writing family stories.

* Apprenticeship of Motherless Boy by Brenda Joyce Jerome on the Western Kentucky Genealogy blog. Brenda found a fascinating apprenticeship contract in a Kentucky deed book from the 1845 time frame. I love posts like this!

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? Tell me!

4 comments:

Colleen said...

Randy.
Thanks for the mention! I love your weekly collection as much as the rest of your work!

Xfaith said...

Thanks for the mention also, felt I should post my real name finally. I use the other alias online. Always loving stopping by.

Genealem said...

Wonderful idea you have!

Do consider Genetic Genealogy to further your knowledge and blogs on writing your childhood memories and family stories. All genealogists need to write their own stories as much as find out about their ancestors...they will be ancestors some day for future genealogists.

Stop my my blogd below.

Thanks,
Emily
http://writingyourmemories.blogspot.com/
http://genealem-geneticgenealogy.blogspot.com/
Northwest Regional Coordinator and Speaker for ISOGG (www.isogg.org)
Administrator for eleven FTDNA DNA Projects

Lori Thornton said...

Thanks for the link!