Sunday, December 5, 2010

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 28 November to 4 December 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:

Book Review: Genealogical Standards of Evidence by John D. Reid on the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog.  John reviews Brenda Dougall Merriman's recent book, and notes "This is the book if you're looking for a short guide to help you in adhering to the American professional genealogy canon as taught (and perhaps applied) in Canada. It will find a place in my personal library."

A Headstone Before It's Time - Tombstone Tuesday by Apple on the Apple's Tree blog.  Apple tackled finding a burial place and a headstone for her still-living mother well - read this and admire the work.

The Story of Today's Shades Old Photo On Twitter by footnoteMaven on the Shades of the Departed blog.  fM is an expert photo analyzer and shares her knowledge and insights about an interesting baby photograph.

Melungeon Frequently Asked Questions And Factual Resources by History Chasers on the Melungeon Studies blog.  I thought that this revised FAQ might be of interest to my readers - it was for me! 

Arsenic: It's not Just for Rats in the 19th Century  by Gena Ortega on Gena's Genealogy Blog.  Who knew that arsenic had uses other than killing rats or people?  Now we all do.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Thanks to Ancestry.com, Another Cousin, Found!  by Dionne Ford on the Finding Josephine blog.  Dionne keeps finding cousins to share her heritage with...interesting stories here in a challenging search.

“Remember the Maine!” Researching Spanish American War Soldiers by Carolyn L. Barkley on the GenealogyAndFamilyHistory.com blog.  An excellent summary of the records and finding aids to research Spanish-American War soldiers.

Review-Tpstry and Interview - Matt Johnson of Tpstry by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog.  I wish all new genealogy websites were reviewed and their developers were interviewed like Thomas did for Tpstry.  Well done.  It looks interesting.

Several other genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts this week, including:

* Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere - December 3 by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net blog.

* Best Bytes for the Week of December 3, 2010 by Elizabeth O'Neal on the Little Bytes of Life blog.

* Friday Newsletter and Follow News: 3 December 2010 by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Bog blog.

Donna's Picks - December 3, 2010 by Donna Pointkouski on the What's Past is Prologue blog.
I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blog to your Favorites, Google Reader, RSS 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 740 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems (and the number of genea-blogs seems to be increasing by 30 or 40 every week).

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.