Sunday, November 23, 2008

Best of the Genea-blogs - November 16-22, 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:

* Confessions of a First-Time Conference-Goer by Colleen on the Orations of O'McHodoy blog. Colleen really enjoyed the Family History Expo in Mesa last weekend, and she tells us about it, with a lot of pictures too! I love it when bloggers meet other bloggers face-to-face - it's like we know each other well already and appreciate what we do.

* Fun & Photos from the Mesa 2009 Family History Expo by Kathryn on the Looking4Ancestors blog. Kathryn shares her pictures and adventures in Mesa with us - great work. Why is everybody msiling?

* Report from the Mesa Family History Expo by Janet Hovorka on The Chart Chick blog. Janet tells of her adventures at the FHE in Mesa also - from an exhibitor's point of view. Nice pictures, too.

* Hello Sunshine: The Family History Expo in Mesa by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog. Diane provides another view of the FHE in Mesa, with more photos.

* My Most Rewarding Genealogy Moment (Moment 2) by Becky Jamison on the Grace and Glory blog. Becky graces us with another great research story that turns out really well. Sometimes the answer is right there and we don't see it right the first time - been there, done that!

* A Genealogy Holiday Hoe-Down by Lisa Louise Cooke on the Genealogy Gems News blog. Lisa is really creative - check out this video starring several of our favorite genea-bloggers! Check out the cartwheel!

* Online Genealogy Dictionaries and Lists by Dick Eastman on the Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter blog. This is a collection of dictionaries and lists of genealogy-related terms - excellent!

* Carnival of Genealogy - 60th Edition by Jasia on the Creative Gene blog. The topic for this issue was Alzheimer's Disease, and over 20 bloggers contributed their experiences and observations.

* Cabinet of Curiosities - 11th Edition by M. Diane Rogers on the CanadaGenealogy, or, 'Jane's Your Aunt' blog. Diane is hostess for this month's carnival which always has, um, er, well, strange and wonderful things in it. Lots of links to non-genealogy blogs here that might interest all of us.

* Free Genealogy How-To Videos all Over the 'Net by Miriam Midkiff on the Ancestories: Stories of My Ancestors blog. Miriam has a great list of genealogy related videos on the Internet. Can you add to her list?

* Working with Citations by footnoteMaven on the footnoteMaven blog. fM provides useful and timely tips to those of us who are citation-confused. She also did a parody of Good Vibrations which sealed this entry to Best of!

* World Vital Records - An Enigma and World Vital Records (FamilyLink) Responds by Tim Agazio on the Genealogy Reviews Online blog. Tim wonders why WVR does some things the way it does, and got a nice response from Whitney Ransom. It's great when companies respond in a timely manner.

* The Catholic Parish Coma by Lynn Turner on the Hispanic Genealogy blog. Lynn has a helpful and critical article about the state of Hispanic Genealogy research, and using records other than Catholic church records. This can be applied to genealogy in any place, especially as it pertains to online vs. repository research.

* Friday from the Collectors - November 21: My Family's Letters, Preserved with Digital Photography by Apple on footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog. Apple tells the story, with many digital photographs, of the treasures found at Michigan libraries in recent years. The number of letters found boggle the mind (and she's not finished!. Are you reading them, almost daily, on Apple's Tree? I am!

* Nuggets from the verticle files by Travis LeMaster on the TJLGenes: Preserving Our Family History blog. Travis finds useful family information in a file cabinet at a local repository. What else lurks in these hidden treasure vaults in almost every library? Have you checked recently?

* 1620 and all that - Resources for Mayflower Research by Carolyn L. Barkley on the GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com blog. Carolyn provides an excellent summary of what is available in print and online for studies of the Pilgrims coming to Plymouth.

* All a Twitter by Denise Olson on the Family Matters blog. Denise is one of those people I rely on to find the latest and greatest technology web site and software. She dissects Twitter with many screen shots and her own experience.

* Links to Articles by the Graveyard Rabbits, November 15-21, 2008 by Terry Thornton on The Graveyard Rabbit blog. This post has 84 links to articles posted in the past week by members of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.

* How Genealogy Saved My Life by webduck on the iPentimento blog. Carol describes her struggle with illness and how genealogy really helped her.

* Towers of Gold: History of the man indistinguishable from history of the State of California by Susan Kitchens on the Family Oral History Using Digital Tools blog. Susan's book report about Frances Dinkelspiel's new book is must reading for California history buffs.

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!

Did I get all of the Family History Expo recap posts? If not, let me know and I'll add it to the list.

UPDATED: 11/24, 11 a.m.: I added Susan Kitchens' post about early California history.

3 comments:

Jasia said...

Thanks for the mention Randy! I appreciate it!

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

Thanks for the kind words Randy! As always you do have a couple that I missed.

Susan K said...

Hi Randy, I'd like to call your attention to a book review I posted on Family Oral History -- about Isaias Hellman, the man who "built" (as in financed) California. It is a biography that was borne out of family research. He's the author's great great Grandfather.

The author, Frances Dinkelspiel, is in LA right now; I heard her speak Friday night, and I'll be posting transcripts of an interview/conversation with her this week (in two parts).