Sunday, April 5, 2009

Best of the Genea-Blogs - March 29 - April 4, 2009

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:

* In Memorium - Patricia Ann (Wickliffe) O'Connor (1934-2009) by Patti Browning on the Consanguinity blog. Patti lost her cousin who helped her get started in genealogy and who shared her work with Patti. This is a beautiful tribute to someone special to Patti.

* Meet: The Educated Rabbit by Thomas MacEntee on The Graveyard Rabbit blog. Thomas interviews Sheri Fenley about her, um, "bunny" work in the cemetery, and quite a bit else. These two could be a comedy act, I think.

* Tech - Tombstone Tuesday: Look What We Found on the Web! by Denise Levenick on The Family Curator blog. Denise experiences an intentional act of genealogical kindness from Midge Frazel and really enjoys it. It's great to see geneabloggers working together! I wonder if Midge could help me ...

* How to Make Effective Use of Blogs in Your Research by Craig Manson on the Geneablogie blog. Craig discusses what blogs are good for, and how to use them. Wise words. When someone criticizes geneabloggers, they try to turn it into constructive work.

* Oh Yeah, I Went There: A Case for Genealogy 2.0 by Amy on the WeTree blog. Amy was at a Web 2.0 conference when she read the Duxbury post, and had very pertinent comments from a broader perspective. More wisdom.

* Women in Central and Eastern European Genealogy - 17th edition, Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy by M. Diane Rogers on the CanadaGenealogy, or, Jane's Your Aunt blog. This Carnival has five entries celebrating International Women's Day.

* The Challenge of Using Online Records by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. It's an interesting topic, and James does a nice job of illustrating why there is still no complete substitute for going places to look at original records.

* Finding 1861–1869 Names of Residents & Civil War Soldiers – Part Two - Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware & the District of Columbia by Leland Meitzler on the GenealogyBlog blog. This is the second in a series, and is a "keeper" to be saved and referred to. It was originally written by Bill Dollarhide.

* Ancestry.com announces Ancestry Séance by the author of The Ancestry Insider blog. This was the best of the April Fool's Day humor posts. Well done, almost believable.

* 35 years ago… by the author of the Generations Gone By blog. Here is a first-person account of living through a big tornado. Scary stuff. There are things that happen in a moment...

* Stopping at a Country Graveyard on a Sunny April Day by Terry Thornton on the Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi blog. Terry stops by his own grave at the cemetery and enjoys the beauty, serenity and scents of the place. Terry writes so well...

* Friday From The Collectors - April 3 : Mary, Pirie and Teddy. Oh My! by Donna McClure on the Shades of the Departed blog. Donna does a wonderful job of figuring out the photographer who took one of her family photographs, and what he did with his life, complete with many footnotes. Well done!

* Delayed Birth Certificates by Gena Philibert Ortega on the Gena's Genealogy blog. Gena does a great job of describing what delayed birth certificates are and how to obtain them.

* THE 69TH CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY: "WHAT IF...?" by Bill West on the West in New England blog. There were 14 entries in this Carnival of Genealogy who took the opportunity to consider how history, and their family, might have been different if "What If...?"

* Footnotes - How to Cite Sources In Blogs and Websites by Thomas MacEntee on the Bootcamp for Geneabloggers blog. Thomas provides step-by-step lessons for adding Footnotes to blog posts on different platforms.

* Follow The Yellow Brick Road! by footnoteMaven on the footnoteMaven blog. Here is the "how-to" guide for inserting footnote superscripts and footnotes into Blogger by the expert in footnoting.

* Weekend With Shades - Saturday - April 4: An Easter Story by Penelope Dreadful (Denise Levenick) on the Shades of the Departed blog. Penelope tells a story based on a photograph - well done!

* Genealogists in Glass Houses by Chris Dunham on The Genealogue blog. Chris scores a bullseye with this humorous analysis of Duxbury's work. It's nice to have Chris back to blogging again.

* Obituaries: Clues from beyond, Part 1 by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on the MyHeritage Genealogy Blog. Schelly provides a great example of analyzing an obituary and provides places to find them online. This post was dated 25 March, but came across my Bloglines yesterday for some reason.

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 - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me!

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

8 comments:

Patti Browning said...

Randy....

Thank you for your kind words about my post for my cousin Pat. It's very appreciated indeed.

Leland said...

Thanks for noting Dollarhide's Civil War column on GenealogyBlog this week. There is a lot more to come. We're posting the columns in preparation for a new book on Civil War research that will be in print in May. The blog items are a portion of what you'll see in the book.

Terry Thornton said...

Randy, Thanks for your generous words and for including my stop by my grave stone on a warm sunny day in your roundup. My, my, what a difference a few days makes in the changeable weather of Hill Country --- tonight and tomorrow we have snow in the forecast! And if the temperature drops as low as predicted, all those wonderful spring flowers will be nipped back.

Thanks again for including Hill Country of Monroe County Mississippi in your list.

Regards,
Terry Thornton
Fulton, Mississippi

SCHELLY TALALAY DARDASHTI said...

Thank you, Randy, for the pointer to Clues from Beyond. The second part will be up soon! Looking forward to seeing you in Burbank again!

Geolover said...

Randy, I don't know about great posts, but there is a new mini-site with link to a blog on the topic of a new TGN marketing device: providing genealogical services.

http://expertconnect.ancestry.com/?origref=

I don't know how they plan to market these services. Possibly by tagged popups in people's Trees. Sigh.

Miss Penelope Dreadful said...

Thank you, sir, for so kindly including my recent efforts in your listing. It is an honor to be numbered in such company, and I am delighted that you enjoyed "An Easter Story."

Most sincerely, I remain,
P. Dreadful

DonnaMac said...

I am tickled to be on your "honor roll" of the week. Thanks for the positive comments on my Friday from the Collectors piece on Shades of the Departed. My great grandmother is probably blushing from all the attention.

Sheri Fenley said...

Thank you Randy for acknowledging that there is room for humor in genealogy.

A very loyal fan.