Sunday, December 13, 2015

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 6 to 12 December 2015

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 daily blog prompts or 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:


*  Ancestry to Retire Family Tree Maker Software; More Information on Family Tree Maker Desktop Software  by Kendall Hulet on the Ancestry.com Blog.  Here's the big news of the week.  Be sure to read the comments.

*  Ancestry to Retire Family Tree Maker Software by Dick Eastman on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter blog.  Dick provides analysis and options for those affected by this.

*  Databases and Software by Dave McDonald on the Thinking Genealogically blog.  Dave offers a dose of wisdom to the Ancestry/FTM issue.

*  What Ancestry's Retirement of Family Tree Maker Means for You by Lisa Louise Cooke on the Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gems blog.

*  On Family Tree Maker and the End of Genealogy by Michael John Neill on the Rootdig.com blog.  Michael has advice for all of us.

*  Blame the Millenials: The End of Family Tree Maker Software by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog.  Thomas has some predictions of the genealogy future without desktop software.

*  Deconstructing the Deed by Jake Fletcher on the Legacy News blog.  Jake describes the different parts of a deed and their purpose, and how you can use them.

*  Santa Claus Signs Agreement with Ancestry.com to Ruin Christmas by Kerry Scott on the Clue Wagon blog.  Kerry adds a good dose of humor and wisdom to the issue.

*  Demise of Family Tree Maker -- Implement a Plan Now by Linda Stufflebean on the Empty Branches on the Family Tree blog.  Linda has excellent advice for FTM users.

*  Plan Ahead for Genealogy Research Without Family Tree Maker ~ Part 1 of an Ongoing Series; Part 2 ~ Without Family Tree Maker; Part 3 ~ Without Family Tree Maker by Heather Wilkinson Rojo on the Nutfield Genealogy blog.  Heather's series should be helpful, and includes a blog post compendium on the topic.

*  The New FamilySearch Place Tool by James Tanner on the Rejoice and Be Exceeding Glad blog.  James describes this useful tool developed by FamilySearch.

*  Keeping It In the Family by Katrina Fahy on the Vita Brevis blog.  Katrina tracked down the provenance of an 18th century silver teapot using probate records.

*  Take Out Your Pencils and Number Your Paper From 1 to 20 by Lori Thornton on the Smoky Mountain Family History blog.  Lori has a genealogy spelling test she wants you to take.  Can you do it without looking at the list of spelling words?

*  Ten Minute Methodology: Beyond the Index, or Not by Judy Kellar Fox on the BCG Springboard News and Notes blog.  Some excellent examples here of finding original source records, or using derviative sources to write a proof argument.

*  My Response to Ancestry's "Business" Decisions by D. Taylor on the D. Taylor's Genealogy blog.  D. makes some cogent points.

*  The Order of Things by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog.  Judy describes some of her research in illegitimate children.

*  What Ancestry's "Retirement" of FTM Really Means by Louis Kessler on Louis Kessler's Behold Genealogy blog.  Louis provides history of FTM and Ancestry's goals.


Here are pick posts by other geneabloggers this week:

 Recommended Reads by Linda Stufflebean on the Empty Branches on the Family Tree blog.

 Friday Finds December 5 - 11 by Nichelle Barra on the Copper Leaf Genealogy blog.


*  Friday Finds - 12/04/15 by Julie Cahill Tarr on Julie's Genealogy & History Hub blog.

*  Friday Finds and Follows: 11 December 2015 by Miriam J. Robbins on the Ancestories: The Stories of My Ancestors blog.


*  Friday Finds in Newspapers: 11 December 2015 by Miriam J. Robbins on the Online Historical Newspapers blog.

*  Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for December 11, 2015 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.

 This Week's Creme de la Creme -- December 12, 2015 by Gail Dever on the Genealogy a la Carte blog.


Readers are encouraged to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Feedly, another 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 1590 genealogy bloggers using Feedly, but I still miss quite a few it seems.


Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.


The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/12/best-of-genea-blogs-6-to-12-december_13.html


Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

3 comments:

Heather Wilkinson Rojo said...

Thanks for the triple mention, Randy!

Jacqi Stevens said...

On that "big news of the week" about Ancestry's FTM decision...Randy's advice: "Be sure to read the comments."

All 867 of them???

Unknown said...

Hi Randy,

I had not seen this previously, but I wanted to sincerely thank you for mentioning my legacy news post in your best of the week. I look forward to following Genea-Musings.

Best,

Jake