Sunday, December 13, 2009

Best of the Genea-Blogs - December 6-12, 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:

* Shades The Magazine - Holiday Issue by footnoteMaven on the Shades of the Departed blog. The December issue of the very best online genealogy magazine - 84 pages! - is waiting for you to read. Don't miss it!

* A Suggestion for Improving the Rootsweb Mailing List and Other Message Boards Experience by Chris Staats on the Staats Place blog. Chris has some great suggestions here to make the boards even better.

* US Census Shenanigans - Part 1 by Amir Dekel on the I Dream Of Genea(logy) blog. Amir documents his census struggles with one family, and discovers a useful bit of information in the process. I look forward to succeeding parts!

* Sentimental Sunday & Monday Madness - Some Days I Just Wanna Cry! by Sandra Taliaferro on the I Never Knew My Father blog. Sandra's post touched me deeply - the sadness, the joy and the hope. Nice poem, too - we can all relate, I think!

* Genealogy Dreams and Goals by Robyn on the Reclaiming Kin blog. Robyn writes down her dreams for research and goals for 2010 - we all need to do this!

* Utah: 'Genealogical pit bull' Helen Radkey by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on the Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog. Schelly has a fascinating story about one woman keeping the LDS Church on its toes with regard to proxy baptisms.

* Who owns the research? by Kory Meyerink on The ProGenealogists (R) Blog. Kory explains the issue, including the "work for hire" provision in copyright law.

* Example of a Timeline: John Alexander McQuarrie by Katrina McQuarrie on the Kick-Ass Genealogy blog. Excellent example of using a spreadsheet and Google to fill out a timeline for one person. Well done! Check out her links too!

* The Ancestor Tree by Ruby Coleman on the You Go Genealogy Girls blog. I've always wanted to do this ... now to see Ruby's tree I want to do it even more! Beautiful! Excellent!

* How to Determine the Size and Scope of Your Family History Book by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog. Lynn has great information about planning your book - a keeper!

* The History Hare - December 10, 2009 by footnoteMaven on the Online GraveYard Rabbit Journal blog. fM's column article in this weekly journal is about photographing the dead. Morbidly fascinating!

* Why meet at the FHL? by Pat Richley-Erickson on the Teach Genealogy Blog. "A little less talk, and a lot more action" was the theme when Pat did her monthly research class at the FHL.

* "Yes, Mary Jane... there is a Spirit of Genealogy!" by John G. West on the Tri-State Genealogical Society of Evansville, Indiana "TSGS Cruiser" blog. A girl's letter to a librarian...the librarian gives good advice.

* Add a Copyright Watermark to Your Photos by Elizabeth O'Neal on the Little Bytes of Life blog. I've always wondered how that's done - Elizabeth provides advice and examples form several free and/or commercial sites.

* Holiday 2009 Cookbook Now Available by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog. This 50-page cookbook with recipes from genea-bloggers is available as a PDF.

* Weekly Rewind by Apple on the Apple's Tree blog. Apple summarizes her week of researching, reading, writing, carnivals and get-well wishes.

* Weekly Genealogy Picks by John Newmark on the Transylvanian Dutch blog. John also has weekly picks - many different from mine.

* The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories continues at GeneaBloggers - many bloggers are writing about their Christmas memories on a daily basis.
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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 550 genealogy bloggers using Bloglines, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

5 comments:

DearMYRTLE said...

THANKS for the shout out, Randy. There have been some awesome blog entries posted this week.

Elizabeth O'Neal said...

Thank you for including my post in your "best of" list this week, Randy! You've listed some great articles that I'll need to check out!

Abba-Dad said...

Thanks Randy!

Lynn Palermo said...

Thanks Randy

footnoteMaven said...

Randy:

Thank you so much for your kind words and recognition.

I could not be more pleased that you enjoy Shades The Magazine.

And thank you for the shout out to the History Hare. Not a pleasant subject, but yes, morbidly fascinating!

And finally, thank you for pointing me in the direction of so many wonderful articles every week.

-fM