Sunday, July 12, 2009

Best of the Genea-Blogs - July 5-11, 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:

* Making Connections in WeRelate by Denise Olson on the Family Matters blog. Denise walks us through how to Add a Person and search for other pages about that person in WeRelate.org. I really appreciate Denise's posts about WeRelate - I need to visit there more often.

* The State of the Genealogy Blogosphere by Chris Dunham on The Genealogue blog. Chris counts up all of the geneabloggers and how often they update...it's hard work, but someone has to do it, and I'm glad that Chris does it.

* All sources lie by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. James has wisdom for all of us to ponder and understand - about sources and indexes and truth and memory.

* Using Ancestry Trees by Taneya Koonce on Taneya's Genealogy Blog. Taneya uploaded a family tree to Ancestry and tells us about her finds. Oh, she has some great suggestions on how to improve the experience too! Ancestry - are you reading?

* Genealogy Societies Need To Look Toward The Future and Genealogy Societies Need To Look Toward The Future (Follow-up Post) by Elyse Doerflinger on Elyse's Genealogy Blog. These are two excellent posts about genealogy societies and young genealogy researchers. Read the comments too - they show the power of a blog post!

* Music and Culture by Jean Hibben on the Circlemending blog. Jean talks about how music influences what we see and hear, as it did for our ancestors.

* Will Genetic Genealogy Lose Its Place? by Emily Aulicino on the DNA- Genealem's Genetic Genealogy blog. Emily comments on, and posts, Dorothy Wheeler's excellent article of the same title. Y-DNA and mtDNA testing is at risk for all of us.

* Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records Online An Essential Web Site for Genealogical Research by Caroline L. Barkley on the GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com blog. This is a great short tutorial about the BLM GLO records and how to find, use and understand them.

* 1,000th Cousin Contact by Lee Drew on the FamHist blog. Lee has documented his extensive family correspondence over the years. I wish I had done this! It's a great idea. I love Lee's quote - "I wish all of my investments had such fantastic returns."

* Where is my family's file? by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on the MyHeritage Genealogy Blog. Schelly publishes Daniel N. Leeson's article "Does Anyone Know Where My File is?" Daniel thought the work was all done - read his funny experiences trying to find out where his genealogy is. A keeper - share it with all new genealogists, especially.

* How Genealogists use Social Networking by Gena Philibert Ortega on the WorldVitalRecords.com - Family History Bulletin blog. Gena asks the question, and got answers from several well-known geneabloggers.

* Top Ten Rules of Genealogy by Michael Hait on the Genealogy Wise blog. Michael provides an excellent list on this new community blog site. He says "These rules will help you to keep on the right track - they follow the philosophy, 'Work smart - not hard.' "

* The Thriller of the Hunt by Lisa Burks on the Adventures in Grave Hunting blog. Michael Jackson in a genealogy blog? Yep - read this fascinating story about media and celebrities and graves - great detective work by Lisa and her cohorts doing Graveyard Rabbit work at at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

* The Year Was 1901 by Sheri Fenley in her monthly Weekend with Shades Column The Year Was on footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog. I love these photo essays about specific years - well done, Sheri!

* 10 Truths About Genealogy by Tami Glatz on the Relatively Curious About Genealogy blog. Tami has a humorous, yet truthful, list for all of us to ponder and laugh at.

* Memorial Dedication Ceremony for Private Amos McKinney, 1st Alabama Cavalry USA - A photographic essay by Terry Thornton on the Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi blog. Terry takes us to a moving memorial dedication through his pictures and text.

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! I am currently reading posts from over 500 genealogy bloggers using Bloglines, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

5 comments:

Sheri Fenley said...

Thank you Dahling Mr. Seaver for your praise and putting me on your list this week. I am always astounded that you find the time to make your way over to read my stuff. It is high praise and an honor to make your weekly list.

Schelly Talalay Dardashti said...

Thanks, Randy. Both Dan and I thank you for pointing to his great story.

Schelly

Terry Thornton said...

Thank you Randy for selecting the photo essay about Amos McKinney's memorial service. That monument dedication came 99 years after his death --- and was a moving tribute to him, his times, and of the situation raging in the hills of northern Alabama during the Civil War.

I am honored to be selected in this great group of writers. Thank you.

Terry Thornton
HILL COUNTRY OF MONROE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI

Karen Packard Rhodes said...

Randy, you are an evil man! I found previous lists last night and spent something like four hours reading blogs you recommended, and reading others that such reading led me to.

Now I'm about to kill another couple of hours with fascinating reading, from your latest list.

You are an evil man, bless your heart!

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for including me in this list of great articles. You're always pulling together some fascinating articles. And, funniest thing, the list seems to get longer each week. That sure says something about this community!