(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 100: Lyle, Rex and Tom

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

I managed to scan about 100 family photographs in the Scanfest in January, and have converted the scanned TIF files to smaller JPGs, cropped and rotated as best I can. Many of these were "new" to my digital photograph collection.

Here is a photograph from the Carringer family collection handed down by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:

This is a picture of my grandfather, Lyle L. Carringer in 1909, with his dog, Rex. Lyle is holding a San Diego High School flag or banner - he was attending his alma mater that year and for several more years, although he was age 18 in 1909. San Diego High School is also my mother's alma mater and my own (my 50th class reunion is in 2011).

Lyle and Rex are posing in front of their home at 2105 30th Street in San Diego. I think that during this time that Lyle was living in the upstairs bedroom. There is one other interesting feature in this photograph - the electric wires coming out of the ground and into the upper story of the house.

I saw the word "Tom" on the photograph, and wondered what it meant - there is a cat on the ground to the right of Lyle - he must be "Tom!"

I can't believe how similar my youngest brother, Scott, in his teens and twenties, looked like Lyle at that age.

San Francisco April 1906 - A ride down Market Street

There is a 7-minute YouTube video that shows the view from the front of a streetcar riding the tracks down Market Street in San Francisco towards the Embarcadero.

The infomration that came with the video via email says:

"Here's a neat opportunity to enjoy some time travel. The film is from a streetcar traveling down Market Street in San Francisco four days before the big earthquake/fire that destroyed the area. You can clearly see the clock tower at the end of the street at the Embarcadero wharf that's still there... The quality & detail is great, so be sure to view it full screen."

The video is here and hopefully embedded below:




My wife has several families that endured and survived the San Francisco Earthquake on 18 April 1906, so this is special to her.

I was struck by:

* the seeming nonchalance of the pedestrians, car drivers, horse/buggy drivers as the streetcar approached them. Lots of close calls!

* the men are dressed in coats and ties, the women in nice dresses and big hats.

* the streetcar didn't stop even though it's apparent many people wanted to get on the streetcar.
* the cars were all right-hand drive.

* the street looks like cobblestones, especially towards the end of the ride.

NARA List of Records Digitized by Partners

...
The National Archives has posted a List of records digitized by NARA’s digitization partners on their NARAtions blog.

The actual list is posted in List of NARA Microfilm Publications and Original Records Digitized by Our Digitization Partners This page notes that:

"Our digitization partners, Ancestry.com and Footnote.com, have digitized selected NARA microfilm publications and original records and made them available on their web sites for a fee. Each partner allows free searches of some or all index terms for each title. Access to Ancestry.com and Footnote.com is available free of charge in all NARA Research Rooms, including those in our regional archives and Presidential libraries.

"The list below includes all microfilm publications and original records that have been digitized by the partners as of March 2010. The list will be updated when additional materials are digitized.

"Ancestry.com created digital copies of many of the National Archives microfilm publications prior to entering into a partnership agreement with NARA. These digitized materials are included in the list below.


"Footnote.com posts digitized materials on its web site in increments rather than waiting until the full title is available. Any partially digitized materials will have "In progress" in the status column.

"The list is arranged in alpha-numeric order by NARA microfilm publication number. Original records that have been digitized will have “Original records” listed in the microfilm publication number column. The list can be re-sorted by clicking on any of the column headings. Clicking on the titles in the list will direct you to the web sites of our partners."

The list looks like this:

There are columns for:

* Microfilm Publication Number

* NARA Microform Publication Title

* Partner

* Status

* NARA Record Group

A user can do an Edit > Find to see the items on the list for a specific publication number, publication title, record group, etc. For instance, I did a search for [1812] and found a number of records from The War of 1812.

This is a very helpful list from NARA - it is dated March 2010. I hope that they update this list on a regular basis.

I noted a complaint on Facebook yesterday to the effect that "the National Archives has sold out to the commercial database companies who are hiding government data behind their subscription wall."

My view is that the National Archives made a very smart and cost effective decision to use commercial partners to digitize their content - the commercial companies have the technology, the interest and had an economic incentive to do so, and it is a Win-Win for all parties involved - the Archives, the companies and the researcher. The Archives wins because the records are digitized and made available to the public online, and access to Ancestry.com and Footnote.com is FREE at Archives facilities. The researcher wins because there are many more useful records available for a fairly low price - the retail cost for an Ancestry US membership is about 43 cents a day, and for a Footnote membership it is 22 cents a day.

It's not like a user that cannot afford a membership at Ancestry or Footnote is shut out of the records - they can visit a National Archives branch, a local library or some Family History Centers with subscriptions. It's how we did it before the Internet, only better!

English Parish Record data and Forrest Gump

...
One of the really great benefits of blogging about my ancestors is that other researchers know much more than I do about record availability and record access.

For example, in response to my post Who were parents of Susanna Page (ca1611-1691)? yesterday, there were responses from:

1) Martin noted that:

"According to Burke's "Key to The Ancient Parish Registers of England & Wales" 1908, Hawstead, Suffolk registers start in 1558. Assuming they were not destroyed in WWII, the Genealogists Society in London would have them.

"I don't know if you're familiar with this web page, but this is the listing of all the parish registers that have been transcribed into the IGI. Hawstead is not among them. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountryEngland.htm#PageTitle "

2) Sheena noted that:

"...According to the Phillimore "Atlas and Index of Parish Registers" (2003 Edn) the parish registers survive from 1558-1926. The originals are in the Bury St Edmunds branch of Suffolk Record Office. The Society of Genealogists in London has copies for 1558-1857 and Boyd's marriage index has coverage from 1559-1837."

Thank you to Martin and Sheena for this helpful information.

I have very little expertise in English parish records, other than searching some of them on FHL microfilm and visiting the Wiltshire County Record Office back in 1993 to view them on microfilm and typed extractions for Wiltshire. I knew that many parish registers were extracted and put in the IGI by the LDS folks, but didn't have the link that Martin provided. have used the Phillimore Atlas and Index, the closest copy for me is at the San Diego FHC.

I mentioned in my post that the Hawstead Parish Registers, and an index to them, are available from 1668 to 1857 via Family History Library microfilms. However, the records for this page family are probably in the Hawstead records before 1668, so I'm stuck until I can get to England and visit the Suffolk Record Office or the Society of Genealogists. A Google for Hawstead Parish Registers revealed this surname site with a list of Suffolk parish registers, including:

"Hawstead All Saints (Baptisms 1558-1857-Modern Transcript; Baptisms 1813-1901-SBI; Marriages 1559-1857-Modern Transcript; Marriages 1559-1837-Boyd's; Burials 1559-1857-Modern Transcript; Burials 1559-1899-NBI 2nd ed/SUI)"

That's great - there are modern transcriptions of the records, but I'm not sure exactly where they are - probably the Suffolk Record Office. Note that NBI = National Burial Index, SBI = Suffolk Burial Index, Boyd's = Boyd's Marriage Index, SUI = Suffolk Burial Index.

There is a detailed description and many pictures of All Saints Church in Hawstead here. How cool is that page?

I wondered about the Probate Records noted in Dan Page's message board post, so I checked the FHL microfilms and see:

* Original wills, 1429-1857; miscellaneous papers including probate inventories, ca. 1734-1858; act books, 1577-1596, 1842-1858 Church of England. Archdeaconry of Sudbury. However, the list of microfilms does not include the years 1594 to 1657!

* Original wills, 1459-1857 and miscellaneous wills not proved, 1554-1739 Church of England. Archdeaconry of Suffolk. However, the list of microfilms does not include the years 1579 to 1773!

* Probate records, 1354-1857; indexes, 1520-1857; probate inventories, 1573-1817 Church of England. Archdeaconry of Sudbury. This includes the years between 1630 and 1640 in Volumes 51 through 54.

The latter should give me a good start, depending on which Archdeaconry the will was filed in. I saw several Peculiars in the list too, so it may not be as easy as it looks. The bigger challenge may be reading the "secretary" style handwriting of the document. Perhaps one of the other films has a transcription of the will I want.

Now I'm thinking that I need to search my family tree database to see which other ancestors died in Suffolk and may be in the Suffolk wills. This is an opportunity to not miss in Salt Lake City next week at the FHL!

I note that all of this is a pretty good example of the Forrest Gump Principle of Genealogy Research -- "Genealogy research is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to find, but you have to look everywhere your 'genealogy gem' might be hiding."

As I explained yesterday, I investigated an email from a colleague the other day, and totally lucked out finding the will of Thomas Page already transcribed by another researcher. My only work was Googling the names Susanna Page and her husband Thomas Gleason!

Ah, The Genealogy Snowball is growing bigger by the minute, eh?

CGSSD Meeting Review - Del Ritchhart's Trips

I enjoyed Del Ritchhart's photo summaries of his trips to Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City during 2009. Del was the program at the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego (CGSSD) meeting on Saturday, 17 April, and there were about 70 people in attendance. He took both trips with the San Diego Genealogical Society, and was able to use his free week's stay at the Plaza Hotel in SLC that he won in an SDGS drawing.

Del's advice for distant library goers was to plan ahead for your trip, and to take advantage of the opportunity if you have ancestral families in nearby towns. When Del went to Fort Wayne, he flew into Chicago, rented a car, researched in several towns in Illinois and then in Indianapolis before getting to Fort Wayne. It looked like he had a great time in the ancestral towns and in Fort Wayne.

1. The Genealogy Center on the second floor of the Allen County Public Library is impressive. There are over 350 thousand printed books, including 55 thousand family histories, over 500 thousand microfilms, and many periodicals. The library provides computer access to Ancestry.com, HeritageQuestOnline and New England Ancestors, and has wireless Internet throughout the building.

Microfilms are filed by locations - right on the film boxes and the film drawers. The microfilm computer readers permit the user to transfer images to USB drives or to print them out. The Help desk people are really helpful.

The Allen County Public Library website is www.acpl.lib.in.us, and when you use the Genealogy tab you can find research helps and a catalog search. The PERiodical Source Index (PERSI) - which indexes articles in many genealogy periodicals - is available to use, and the periodicals are either on the shelf or on microfilm.

2. Del's weeklong trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City was highly profitable and fun with the society colleagues. They had a good tour of the city and the Great Salt Lake on the Sunday they arrived. Each person in the group had a tour of the library, and an hour with a professional researcher during the week, which was helpful.

Del outlined the holdings of the Family History Library, and the layout of the library with five floors of books and microfilms. He mentioned that copy cards cost $1 to purchase, but photocopies were only 5 cents each and prints from microfilm images were 23 cents each. The FHL has some microfilm scanner units that permit the user to capture microfilm images to their USB drive for free.

The first hour of the CGSSD meeting was devoted to groups on Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic and Reunion for the Mac. I attended the RootsMagic class, and Ruth Himan has summarized her experiences there in her blog post RootsMagic on her Genealogy is Ruthless Without Me blog.

Who were parents of Susanna Page (ca1611-1691)?

I received an email from a CVGS colleague several weeks ago saying "Randy, do you have a tie to Susanne Page 1611-1690, if so go to Ancestry & search Richard Robert Page, this is her grandfather..." Okay, I thought, I'll go check it out, since I recalled that I did not know the parents of my Susanna Page (1611-1691).

Susannah Page was an immigrant to colonial New England, probably with her husband Thomas Gleason (1607-1686), and settled in Watertown and later Cambridge in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Over the years, there have been many claims in online Family Trees concerning the parentage of Susannah (Page) Gleason, including:

1) In http://www.familysearch.org/ Ancestral Tree database: no entries!

2) In the http://www.familysearch.org/ Pedigree Resource File: 79 entries

* No parents listed - 24 matches
* John Page/Phoebe Paine - 24 matches
* Robert or William Page - 16 matches
* Robert Page/Lucy Ward - 8 matches
* Robert Page / no spouse - 3 matches
* John Page/Mary - 1 match
* John (George) Page/Phoebe Paine - 1 match
* William Page/no spouse - 1 match
* William Page/Ann - 1 match

3) http://www.ancestry.com/ One World Tree: 3 matches:

* John Page/Phoebe Paine - 116 trees (with 7 different birth places)
* Robert Page/Lucy Ward - 7 trees
* John Page/Mary Paine - 3 trees

4) http://www.ancestry.com/ Public Member Trees: 78 matches

* John Page/Phoebe Paine - 53 matches
* John Page/Mary Paine - 3 matches
* John Page/no spouse - 1 match
* John (George) Page/no spouse - 2 matches
* William Page/no spouse - 4 matches
* William Page/Phoebe Paine - 2 matches
* Robert Page or William Page/no spouse - 3 matches
* Robert Page/no spouse - 2 matches
* Robert Page/Margaret Goodwin - 1 match
* Robert Page/Phoebe Paine - 4 matches
* Robert Page/Lucy Ward - 3 matches

5) http://wc.rootsweb.com/ WorldConnect database - 72 matches

* No parents - 24 matches
* John Page/Phoebe Paine - 21 matches
* Robert or William Page/no spouse - 19 matches
* John Page/Mary Paine - 3 matches
* Robert Page/Lucy Ward - 3 matches
* William Page/no spouse - 1 match
* William Page/Phoebe Paine - 1 match

Where did these people gather their information? Likely from other researchers who put the information in an online family tree, or passed around a family group sheet or pedigree chart via snail mail or email.

The "most popular" set of parents was John and Phoebe (Paine) Page who settled in Watertown MA and had several children. This family is in Robert Charles Anderson's The Great Migration Begins book, but the sketch does not list a daughter Susanna. There are NEHGR articles (Volumes 101 and 103) that list the descendants of John and Phoebe (Paine) Page. There is an NEHGR article for the descendants of Robert and Lucy (Ward) Page - at least they had a daughter, Susanna! Wrong one, I think.

What's the right answer to my question? After being totally frustrated by the above f*ckall useless search, I Googled using search terms ["Susanna Page" "Thomas Gleason"] and received 145 matches. Almost all of them regurgitate information similar to the data above. However, the very first one is a GenForum message written by Dan Page on the GLEASON Message Board on 19 August 2007. The message (there is an identical message on PAGE message board) says:

"Recently, researcher Robert Page and others have been looking for English origins of the oft-mentioned Thomas Page who came early to the Isle of Wight, VA. Of course they were alert for Pages named Thomas. They have been sifting records for Co. Suffolk, England. In the process, they came across the following will:

"THOMAS PAGE of Hawstead, yeoman, 13 January 1636/37
Commends soul to God trusting through merits of my sweet saviour Christ Jesus to have commission of sins and consequently inherit the kingdom of heaven prepared for me and all the elect people of God. I give the poor people of Hawstead 20s to be distributed at discretion of my exor. Upon marriage with my new wife Elizabeth I entered into a bond to pay her L11 p.a. for life and another L4 p.a. out of certain lands in Finningham. In addition I now devise to her all the household stuff she brought with her at time of our marriage in lieu of all demands on my estate. I entreat her to be contented with this. I promised Thomas Lock L60 in consideration of marriage with my daughter Mary; I have already paid him L30 and I give him L30 more to be paid within a year of my decease. To son William L10 within a year; and to daughter Susan, wife of Thomas Gleason, L20 within 2 years. To son John the reversion of my two tenements of Finningham after my wife's decease; the possession of them is settled on her for life. To son Joseph, L40 when 21 and in the meantime he is to be brought up at charge of my exor and bound out as an apprentice at his charge. All the rest of my real and personal estate, my legacies and funeral charges being paid, I give to son Thomas and make him sole exec. Legatees have benefit of survivorship.
Wit. George Scarpe, Rebecca Page, Thomas Page. Pr. at Ixworth 11 July 1633 by John Syer to exor.

"You may recall that Susanna (Page) Gleason is believed to have had a brother William Page of Watertown. e.g.: William's will made small bequests to all his kinsmen in N. Eng., mentions his kinsman, Thomas Leason; to his kinsman, William Leason, then living with him, 10 pounds at the age of 22 years. Inventory, Jan. 18, 1664-5, 137 pounds 12. His widow, Anna, married previous to June 22, 1669, Nicholas Wood, of Goggestow, near Meadfield. She afterwards married Edward Winn, of Woburn.

"Now, the Will of Winn's widow Anna, dated Sept. 9, 1685, proved Nov. 1, 1686, gave John Coolidge, 5 pounds; Dea. Henry Bright, 5 pounds; brother-in-law, Gleason, 40s.; kinsman, Thomas Gleason, 20s.; wife of Thomas Pratt, 20s., and bequests to her kinsmen, Joseph, John, Philip, Isaac, William, Mary, and Anne Gleason. Thomas Pratt was the spouse of our Susanna (Page) Gleason's daughter Susanna."

What a superb example of genealogy research performed by the Page people! They found the link to Susanna (Page) Gleason. My thanks to Dan Page for noting it and posting it to the PAGE and GLEASON message boards.

In my little mind, this will, and the other cited documents, are primary information concerning Susanna's birth parents. I need to find the original source, the actual record, of course, but will pursue that in Salt Lake City next week! Now what about Thomas Page? I could find no other record for this particular Thomas Page in Suffolk in Ancestry family trees. Perhaps the Hawstead parish registers will have him listed with a spouse and children (if it exists). I wonder what Susanna's mother's name was? Susanna named daughters Mary and Ann.

So who's going to beat me and be the first person to put this on an Ancestry Public Member Tree? Better hurry!

The bigger question is "who is going to correct ALL of those spurious online family tree entrees?" Unfortunately, the answer is "only a few researchers who see the GenForum message and this post." Too bad.

This is pretty typical of the state of online family trees - every researcher needs to understand that online family trees are full of wrong information!

UPDATED: I got curious if Hawstead Church records existed before 1640, and it looks like they do not. There are records for 1668-1857, but not before then, at least in Family History Library. Drat! No low hanging parish register fruit.

Amanuensis Monday - Guardianship of Humphrey White's children

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme several months ago called Amanuensis Monday.

I loved the idea, and recently decided to follow it in order to share ancestral information and keep the theme going, and perhaps it will expand to other genealogy bloggers.

What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

Today, my subject is Humphrey White (1758-1814), the son of Jonathan and Abigail (Wing) White of Glocester, RI, the husband of Sybil (Kirby) White, and the father of Meribah, Benjamin, David, Elizabeth, Humphrey, Nancy, Martha, Jonathan, Rhoda and William White. Jonathan White is one of my third great-grandfathers, who married Miranda Wade.

Humphrey White of Glocester RI died intestate. There are three records of guardianship for his children and records for administration of his estate.


1) The guardianship record for four minor children is (Glocester RI Probate Court Records, volume 3, page 360, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,941,848):

"Know all men by these presents, that we William Arnold, William Tourtellot, Samuel Steere Junr, William Wade Junr, William Hawkins Junr, Hasait Peckham and Abraham Baker --
"Do by these presents, in the name of the State of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations, and by virtue of the law in said state, Empowering the Courts of Probate to appoint Guardians, when the Court thinks proper, over certain persons and their Estates, and we now think it proper, for the benefit of Rhoda White, Jonathan White, William White and Nancy White, all of said Glocester under lawfull age, and children of Humphrey White late of Glocester deceased.

"Therefore, we the said Court of Probate have, and do hereby appoint you Sibel White of said Glocester, and you are hereby appointed a proper and lawfull Guardian, over the persons and Estate of the said Rhoda, Jonathan, William and Nancy, with full power to do everything that is right and just according to Law, relating the duty of a Guardian respecting the aforesaid premises.


"We hereby relying on your strict justice and integrity in and about said premises, and that you hold yourself at all times ready to make and render a just and true account of all your doings, by virtue of the power herein given you unto the said children, & otherwise make and render such account in the premises as the Law in such cases made and provided doth direct, whenever legally called thereunto. Given per order and in behalf of the said Court of Probate, with their seal hereunto affixed this 12th day of February A.D. 1814."

2) A similar guardianship for four children of lawful age, David White, Elisabeth White, Humphrey White and Martha White, all of Glocester and children of Humphrey White late of Glocester deceased. Joseph Cady of Glocester was appointed a proper and legal Guardian of the persons and Estates of the four children. This guardianship was appointed on 12 February 1814. (Glocester RI Probate Court Records, volume 3, page 360, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,941,848).).

3) On 19 April 1815, Benjamin White was appointed guardian of Humphrey White, under lawful age. (Glocester RI Probate Court Records, Volume 3, Page 395, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,941,848).

4) On 15 March 1814, Sibel White and Benjamin White were appointed administrators of the estate of Humphrey White by the Court of Probate in Glocester. They were given "...full power to ask for, gather, recover & receive, all and whatsoever goods, Chattels, Wares, Merchandise, rights, credits, effects and things and the whole personal estate whatever which to the said Humphrey White while he lived, and at the time of his death did appertain and belong." (Glocester RI Probate Court Records, Volume 3, Page 365, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,941,848).

"A true and proper inventory of all the goods, chattels, rights and credits and personal estate that belonged to Humphrey White late of Glocester in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, at the time of his decease, who departed this life on the 15th day of January AD 1814. That was set forth by the Administrators and apprised by us the subscribers on the 21st, 22d & 23d days of February AD 1814, viz:"

The inventory of the estate was taken by Joseph Cady, David Arnold, and William Stone. It is four pages long with double columns, and amounts to $2,568.89. It was accepted, allowed and recorded on 16 March 1814 (Glocester RI Probate Court Records, Volume 3, Page 361, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,941,848).

No record of the administrators account or the distribution of the personal estate was recorded in the Court of Probate.

Probate records in Rhode Island are found at the town level, not at the county or state level. These probate records name the eight living minor children of Humphrey and Sybil (Kirby) White, including my ancestor Jonathan, born in 1806.

Note that the probate record provides the exact death date of Humphrey White as 15 January 1814.

I'm not sure what the "lawful age" was in Rhode Island in 1814 for children to choose their own guardian - in Massachusetts it was age 14. The four children of "lawful age" were David, Elisabeth, Humphrey and Martha (meaning they were born before 1800 if 14 is the "lawful age") and the four not of "lawful age" were Rhoda, Jonathan, William and Nancy. The first two children, Meribah and Benjamin, were over age 21 in 1814 and did not need to have guardians appointed. Indeed, Benjamin was appointed guardian of his brother Humphrey (hmm, listed as under lawful age in 1815, but of lawful age in 1814. I wonder why?), and was appointed administrator of the estate of his father, along with his mother, Sybil.

Anne Bradshaw wants your "miracle"stories

...
Author (Famous Friday Nights) and blogger Anne Bradshaw (Anne Bradshaw's Place blog) is writing a new book that will include:


"... stories about miracles that happen while doing family history research--those uplifting occasions when you realize you've received help finding vital information. Wonderful things happen with family history and I feel many people around the world will enjoy reading about them."


Do you have one of those research stories? If so, Anne would love to hear from you (email xtrafam@yahoo.com) and include your story in her upcoming book.

New Content on Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog

...
As many readers know, I also post information on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog, the official blog of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society. Rather than duplicate the information on Genea-Musings, I've listed the recent articles on the Gen Cafe here:

* Hank Jones Program Summary - 24 March 2010

* Interested in Genealogy Research? CVGS Wants You!

* April 2010 CVGS Newsletter Available Online

* CVGS Research Group Summary - 14 April 2010

* CVGS Seminar on Saturday, 24 April - 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at South Chula Vista Library. Susi Pentico speaking on "How to Find Out WHO You Are."

* Books Donated to Chula Vista Library

* Genealogy 101 - A Beginning Genealogy Workshop -- Tuesday evenings in May, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library.

Best of the Genea-Blogs - April 11-17, 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:

* In Praise of Genealogical “Junk Food” by Katrina McQuarrie on the Kick-Ass Genealogy blog. Katrina's guilty pleasure is reading genealogy magazines - and for good reasons, which she lists!

* Monday Madness, or “What am I supposed to do with all these pictures!” by Ruth Stephens on the Bluebonnet Country Genealogy blog. Ruth decided what to do in her post - sounds like an excellent choice!

* Teenage Genealogy Tuesday by Dean Richardson on the Genlighten Blog - Genealogy Documented blog. An interesting evening for Dean at the FHC - working with teens finding their ancestry. Some good ideas here!

* Saving Money with Society Memberships - Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four by Tina Lyons on the Gen Wish List blog. Tina has excellent ideas on the subject, and wants your suggestions too (see her fourth post).

* Visit your ancestral places by John D. Reid on the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog. John has several helpful articles this week - but I thought this one was the most helpful to me. A great idea - visit them online - John tells you how!

* The grave for R. U. READY by Terry Thornton on the Hill Country HOGS Blog. Is there a better writer amongst our genea-blogger community than Terry? I don't think so! Read this sad, funny, and fascinating story. Enjoy.

* Janet's Guide To Salt Lake City by Janet Hovorka on The Chart Chick blog. This is an ongoing series for NGS Conference and Family History Library attendees - everything you need to know about the best family history place on Earth.

* Tombstone Tuesday- Battle of Lexington, Not so Wordless Wednesday- Patriot's Day Symbols, Lemuel Haynes- A Black Minute Man, Cousins at the Battle of Lexington, and The Battle of Lexington, Re-Enacted by Heather Wilkinson Rojo on the Nutfield Genealogy blog. Cousin Heather's series about Patriot's Day is excellent - I was especially touched by the re-enactment story. That sounds like a fantastic, and sobering, experience.

* Uses for Facebook in Genealogy by Cyndi Howells on the Cyndi's List blog. Cyndi came up with more ideas than I've seen or heard before - very helpful!

* Conference Week - How To Survive A Week Away From Home by Sheri Fenley on The Educated Genealogist blog. Sheri has the first post of (hopefully) a series - who knew that comfort items were that important? My only comfort item at a conference is a bag of M&Ms; but then I don't need a hair dryer or ironing board.

* Spring Cleaning Genealogy Style by Laura on the It's All Relative blog. What a great idea - an SOP for your genealogy collection. Laura has done one, have you? Me? No, not yet. It would be interesting to see one to determine the breadth and depth of it.

* Weekly Genealogy Picks by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John faithfully makes his picks every week in several categories - excellent choices!

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

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.