Sunday, November 30, 2008

Best of the Genea-blogs - November 23-29, 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:

* History/Genealogy Related Federal Government Jobs by Tim Agazio on the Genealogy Reviews Online blog. Need a job? Tim has found some openings with Uncle Sam for folks with history, genealogy and intelligence skills.

* November 23, Appealing Subjects with Craig Manson: Photographic Evidence in Court by Craig Manson on footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog. Craig analyzes how photographic evidence was used in the early days of photography, and some "interesting" court cases concerning use of unsuitable photos.

* I'll Surround Them by Lee Drew on the FamHist blog. Lee's describes his decades-long search for his Farrar family and the successes he has had breaking down this brick wall. It's an excellent example of taking the wall down one brick at a time. But he's not done. When he is, I'm sure that he will tell us about it!

* Visiting NARA: NARA Records on Footnote.com by the Ancestry Insider on The Ancestry Insider blog. The AI lists the National Archives records currently available on Footnote.com. This is a really useful list - I wish Footnote would do something like this for their collections.

* Don't Do Thanksgiving Without These Essentials by Maureen Taylor on the Photo Detective with Maureen A. Taylor blog. Maureen lists ways to get your relatives to identify people in photographs at Thanksgiving time. The list applies to any time, of course, but you probably won't get pecan or pumpkin pie.
* Baptism: Holocaust survivors break off Mormon negotiations by Shelly Talalay Dardashti on the Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog. Schelly traces the history of this problem of the LDS church baptizing people of the Jewish faith, and the issues it raises. It's an excellent summary of an important issue.

* What's In a Name? I Showed you Mine, Your Turn to Show me Yours! by Lorine on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. Lorine discusses given names, nicknames and pet names.

* Beloved Ireland: 10th edition Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture by Lisa on the Small-leaved Shamrock blog. Lisa is hostess for this Carnival this month, and it's a great one. The topic was "what aspects of Irish culture and traditions are beloved by us." There were 11 submissions. Is any other country as "green" as Ireland? Lisa's photos are majestic.

* The Worse Thanksgiving Ever by the blogger (Teresa?) who writes the Generations Gone By Weblog. I couldn't resist adding this Thanksgiving story - the situation was probably very common 100 years ago.

* 13th Edition, Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy by Elizabeth O'Neal on the Little Bytes of Life blog. Elizabeth was hostess of this monthly carnival - the topic was "What resources are you thankful for..." Ten genealogy bloggers contributed their thoughts.

* Happy CGSL Blogiversary by Kathryn M. Doyle on the California Genealogical Society and Library blog. The CGSL celebrates on year of blogging. This is the best of the genealogy society blogs - filled with society news, photographs, travel summaries, etc.

* Doing Some Volunteer Work During the Holidays by Elyse Doerflinger on The Graveyard Rabbit of Eastern Tennessee blog. Elyse encourages readers to volunteer at a cemetery - she has excellent and inspiring suggestions.

* The MyHeritage Interview Series: Genealogist Schelly Talaly Dardashti by Linde on the MyHeritage Blog. This is the start of an interview series - read it and learn more about our blogging colleague, Schelly.

* One Society Bites the Dust; Another One Celebrates a Milepost by Miriam Midkiff on the Eastern Washington Gernealogical Society Blog. Miriam analyzes the sad news about Sangamon County IL society, and highlights the CGSL as a good example. Excellent opinion piece - I totally agree with Miriam's analysis, FWIW.

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!

3 comments:

SCHELLY TALALAY DARDASHTI said...

Hi, Randy.

WOW! Two postings referenced for "Tracing the Tribe" - Thank you for the pointers.

Best wishes and hope you are recovering from your Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Schelly

Elyse said...

Thanks so much for listing one of my articles on here!! I really appreciate it!

Kathryn Doyle said...

Hi Randy,

Thank you very much for your kind words. You set the bar pretty high - I can barely keep one blog going. I really don't know how you manage all you do. I notice that NGS is going to be starting a society blog soon. See what you started?