Sunday, August 1, 2010

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 25-31 July 2010

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:

* Insane by Debra Osborne Spindle on the All My Ancestors blog. Tex found an interesting ancestral record - and needs to do more research because she is asking "why." Good thinking.

* FamilySearch Pilot and Beta – Manna from Heaven by Lee R. Drew on the FamHist blog. Lee sings the praises of FamilySearch - I'm humming along.

* Genealogy Trip to Hawaii, Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, and Day Five by Heather Wilkinson Rojo on the Nutfield Genealogy blog. Heather has had a wonderful time mixing her vacation with genealogy research in Hawaii - read all of these, enjoy the photographs, and wish that you were along on the trip.

* The Pros and Cons of Choosing a Public Family Tree vs. a Private Family Tree by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog. Lynn debates with herself on this issue - good discussion!

* The Online Family Tree Conundrum & A Lesson in Genealogy Research: A Two-for-One Special by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog. Julie bares it all (her previous online family tree practices, that is) along with her lessons learned and current practices.

* Are there limits to genealogical research? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. This post examines reasons why researchers have brick walls, including the only real good one - that there aren't any more records to find

* A Review of Family Tree DNA’s Family Finder – Part I by Blaine Bettinger on The Genetic Genealogist blog. Part 1 of a comprehensive review of everything you wanted to know about the FT DNA autosomal DNA test. A keeper!

* Too Many Ancestors! by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. Lorine's problem is one we all want, but it is very real, and difficult to fix. She's still working on it, and got a lot of sympathy in comments.

* Who Do You Think You Are? by Martin Hollick on The Slovak Yankee blog. Martin links to an Armstrong and Miller video spoofing the English TV show - funny!

* Midwest Family History Expo Underway, Early classes and exhibits visited on Friday, More Exhibitors at the Midwest Family History Expo in KC, Good Classes at Midwest Family History Expo in KC, and A few more exhibitor photos at Midwest Family History Expo in KC by Dr. Bill Smith on the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories blog. Excellent reports and photos from the Midwest Family History Expo conference in Kansas City this past week.

* Midwest Family History Expo - We're Here! , Midwest Family History Expo - Day 1, Midwest Family History Expo - Beacon of Bloggers , Midwest Family History Expo - Focus on the National Archives in Kansas City and Midwest Family History Expo - Blogger Paparazzi! by Susan Petersen on the LongLostRelatives.net blog. Susan enjoyed the Midwest Family History Expos - more excellent reports and photos.

* The Genealogical Dark Ages - Yeah, right. by John Newmakr on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John provides a list of the posts on the Curt Witcher talk, and his own cogent thoughts.

Other "Best of..." weekly pick posts are here:

* Weekly Genealogy Picks by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John also links to several other weekly pick posts.

* Follow Friday: 30 July 2010 by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Bog. Greta's picks are often different from my own.

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

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

5 comments:

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

Thanks, Randy, for including my Midwest Family History Expo coverage in your weekly blog post! It was a great experience!
Bill ;-)

http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
Author of "Back to the Homeplace"
and "13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories"
http://www.examiner.com/x-53135-Springfield-Genealogy-Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/x-58285-Ozarks-Cultural-Heritage-Examiner

Susan Petersen said...

Thanks for including my posts about the Midwest Family History Expo this week, Randy. I appreciate the tip of the hat!

Karen said...

Thanks - I always enjoy finding out about new blogs, or posts I missed! And I learned of quite a few this week.

Heather Wilkinson Rojo said...

Thanks for mentioning my Hawaii posts. Maybe it will inspire someone to take a dream genealogy trip to someplace far away! Lucky me that it was Hawaii!

Lynn Palermo said...

Thanks Randy for the shout out this week. My post was not meant to be a debate with myself so much, but technical problems with my comments prevented others from chiming in. This has since been fixed and I certainly would love to hear anyone's take on Public vs. Private Trees.