Sunday, November 29, 2009

Best of the Genea-Blogs - November 22-28, 2009

Hundreds of 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:

* 19th and 21st Century Culture Clash in Middle America by Bernie Gracy on the HistoricalTownMaps Blog. Bernie and his son took a road trip and they both learned some history.

* Day One Grandma's Genie Camp, Day Two Grandma's Geni 101 Class, Day 3 of Grandma's Genie Camp, and Day 4 --- Grandma's Genie Camp by Ruth on the Genealogy is Ruthless Without Me blog. Ruth set a great example for genealogy grandparents this week - read all of these posts!

* Digitized Records Not Just for Mormons by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog. Mr. AI sets his correspondents straight about access to the LDS New FamilySearch and Family History Centers.

* Dad Memorial Scanfest, part 2: How we used the images by Susan A. Kitchens on the Family Oral History Using Digital Tools blog. Susan recounts her efforts to put together a memorial for her father -a wonderful example of what can be done.

* Computer Tricks 3 – Naming Electronic Files by Natalie Cottrill on The ProGenealogists(R) Blog. I really like Natalie's naming conventions - wonder how long it will take me to rename all of my images?

* Resources for PDF by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog. Thomas provides links to some tools to work with PDF files.

* Going to the Source by Daniel Hubbard on the Personal Past Meditations - A Genealogical Blog. Daniel has an interesting article about non-conventional sources and their importance.

* An End to File Cabinet Genealogy by Thomas Fiske on Leland Meitzler's GenealogyBlog blog. Tom is thinking ahead about how we save all of our genealogy work, and who saves it.

* How to find Native American Heritage by Amy Crooks on the Untangled Family Roots blog. I really appreciate Amy's post because I've had similar queries and have been unable to respond well.

* A Big Appetite, He must have loved Thanksgiving! by Heather Wilkinson Rojo on the Nutfield Genealogy blog. Here's a fascinating story about one of Heather's relatives, and her research of his life.

* Talking Turkey: Family history holiday by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on the Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog. Schelly's has a classic Thanksgiving turkey story - don't miss this one!

* Evolution of my Slovak Research by Martin Hollick on The Slovak Yankee blog. I am fascinated by the process of how researchers get back to the "old country" - Martin tells his story.

* Indexes are hearsay by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. James has excellent advice for all researchers about using indexes only as finding aids.

* WAXING POETIC ABOUT GENEALOGY: THE GREAT AMERICAN LOCAL POEM GENEALOGY CHALLENGE by Bill West on the West in New England blog. Bill created this one-time carnival - 15 writers responded - please read them all, a fine collection.

* What's In A Name? Open To the Possibilities by Caroline M. Pointer on the Family Stories blog. Caroline thinks it's a good idea to keep track of given names in the family - excellent advice.

* Taking Them from Names to People by Miles Meyer on the Miles' Genealogy Tips blog. Miles shows how he turned basic genealogy data into family history for one of his great-grandfathers. Well put, and well done.

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 540 genealogy bloggers using Bloglines, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

7 comments:

Bill West said...

Thanks for the mention, Randy!

Susan Kitchens said...

Hey, Randy-- thanks for the mention! And gee, what timing. I was all ready to take advantage of the holiday weekend (last call! Sunday night!) to do an update of the software running my site. Guess I'll have to wait until the wee hours to do so, seeing as how I'm getting traffic from your site!

(p.s. like the higher contrast between text and background title on your site. I can see it, I can!)

Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith said...

Thanks so much, Randy. Another really great list. Found a couple that are really inspirational to me! Susan Kitchens was one, by the way, as well as Miles and Bernie. Three approaches I want to emulate, as I continue to tell my ancestor stories.

;-)

James Tanner said...

Thanks again. I always enjoy your list, but the list of sites I am reading keeps getting longer and longer.

Bernie Gracy said...

Thanks for the mention Randy and Bill for the positive feedback!

Joan said...

Randy, "The Best of .." is a boon to this neophyte. Thanks

Heather Wilkinson Rojo said...

Thanks for stopping by to read "Nutfield Genealogy." I always like your lists, because it gives me more blogs to add to my own lists!