Using the Internet Archive Website: Books - Post 1

I have struggled over the years to use the FREE Internet Archive website (http://www.archive.org/) effectively.  It seems like almost every time I use it, my Internet Explorer browser locks up.  I have no idea why!

I have also been frustrated by the search limitations on the site, and have finally figured out "my way" of doing it.  If others have better methods, I would love to hear them.

Here is the home page of the site:

I was looking for a specific book about Samuel Sewall of Massachusetts, so I put "samuel sewall" (in quotes) in the small search box at the top of the page.  After about one minute, I got this screen:

It told me that "The search engine encountered the following error:  search engine returned invalid information or was unresponsive. We are working to resolve this issue.  Thanks for your patience."

I was still impatient, so I turned to my trusty work-around.  I searched the website in Google, using the string: ["samuel sewall" site: http://www.archive.org/] (without the brackets).  Here were my results:

That's better - there are plenty of mentions of Samuel Sewall in the Archive site - and look what's number 1:  "Diary of Samuel Sewall, 1674-1729)."  I clicked on it and saw:

To someone inexperienced using this site, the result looks like gibberish.  The user can scroll down and find real text, but it can be confusing to someone trying the site the first time.  Why the gibberish?

The Internet Archive seems to always open with the full OCRed (Optical Character Recognition) text version.  The graphics on a scanned page often create unintelligible text, as shown above.  It seems like there are many misspelled words in the text, probably because of the OCR process of text in difficult to read fonts.

This is usually where my system locks up.  Perhaps it is because it takes a long time (sometimes a minute or more) to load this OCRed text page.  If I click on something without the page telling me that it's "Done," my system locks up.  I thought this problem would go away once I bought a new computer with more RAM.  But it hasn't gone away so far.

There is no effective search box for the site (that I can see) on this screen.  My work-around here is to go to the Edit menu on my browser, and click on "Find on this Page" and enter the text I'm searching for in the search box (see screen above).  The screen instantly goes to the first use of the search text:

If I want the next instance of the requested text, I can click on the "Next" button and the next instance will be highlighted. 

The Internet Archive has a wealth of resources available.  There are other ways to read these online books, and we'll look at some of them in a future post.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 142: San Diego Mountain Snow

This is the view that some San Diegans had over the weekend.  A major winter storm came through on Friday night, the skies cleared on Saturday and Sunday, and this picture was in the newspaper over the weekend.

The photograph was taken from Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery on Point Loma (where my parents are buried), west of downtown San Diego.  The high snow-covered mountain in the background is Mount Cuyamaca (kwee-ah-mah-cah), over 6,000 feet high, and the central peak is a good 40 miles east of downtown San Diego.

There are many locations in San Diego that afford a similar view of the mountains, but only when the air is really clear, as it was when this picture was taken. 

Last weekends storm dropped snow down to about the 2,000 foot level in the county, which occurs once in about every five years.  The higher mountains get snow several times every year,  and resort towns like Julian (about 4,000 feet) get snow every winter, sometimes more than once.

When it is real clear, it seems like you can see forever.  I remember being out at Cabrillo National Monument on the southern tip of Point Loma and being able to see the top of snow-covered Mount Baldy which is over 120 miles to the north above Ontario, California. 

Has it snowed at sea level in San Diego?  YES! - several times in my lifetime - read about my experiences with San Diego winter weather in Advent Calendar - December 9: Christmas Weather. 

Videos from RootsTech 2011

Eagle eye Jill on the Geniaus  blog pointed me toward some videos from RootsTech 2011 on the Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Virginia (MPAAGHS) website, on their Videos page.

The videos available are:

The Changing Face of Genealogy
Curt Witcher, Allen County Public Library

Cloud Computing: What It Is and How It Has Been Used
Brian Pugh, FamilySearch.org

The Power of PDF: Tools for Every Genealogist
Josh Taylor, New England Historic Genealogical Society

Virtual Presentations Roundtable
Thomas MacEntee, Moderator

Apparently, these are not available yet on the FamilySearch Research Wiki yet.  I check the RootsTech 2011 page every so often for the videos, and more.

Reader's Genea-Rant #1 - "My cousin's done genealogy research, and it's wrong!"

I love it when my readers write with comments or questions - even rants.  Here's one I received recently (with his permission to publish it on Genea-Musings):

-----------------------------------------------

"So my wife and put the word out that we are doing the family genealogy. We receive notice from my wife's second cousin that they have already researched their tree (25% of my wife's tree in common), further they have even turned the family history into a book and are selling it on the Internet!  They graciously agree to send a CD of the book, including an ancestral file of the family tree to us for no cost.  We are stoked!  The thought of 12.5% of our family tree already being laid out for us brought smiles to our face.  Until I started researching that family line.

"I wrote away to obtain copies of primary sources like vital records and began to notice they did not square with the relative's research. I emailed him and he said all sources were in the ancestral file, so I booted it into Legacy.  But the sources were written in some strange words and when I Googled them a multitude of ways they always returned zero results.  I emailed again, but all he had to offer was an apology that he "couldn't remember that particular file" and then he wished me to have fun.  WHAT??  I email back, and this time all he says is that his relatives "did not deliver much information" (aka. "nothing") on that line I was researching, so he got all that was there in the book from the Internet, and wished me good luck!  SERIOUSLY?!?   He had NO intention of standing behind his research!

"I bet you can figure where I am going.  I finally discovered his "source."  It was an Ancestral File from the Family Tree section on the www.FamilySearch.org website.  Exactly, one of the same ancestral files for which the website states "Data in the File has not been verified and should only be used as a starting point for additional research."  In other words, they are "clues."  My wife's relative had published, and was charging money for, a family history book with inaccurate clues  represented as facts!  I could scream!  Now everything he did has to be verified, every source double-checked. Wonderful."

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My upset reader did not ask me for suggestions or recommendations, he only wanted to rant and have me publish it as a warning to others.  If he had, I would have said:

"Nothing is truly worthless.  You can always use it in genealogy education classes as a 'bad example.'  

"It appears that you wife's cousin did no real 'research' - he did an online search for information and grabbed what he could find.  In that regard, he is like many people who dabble in genealogical pursuits - they don't go for the 'good stuff,' but grab the 'low hanging fruit' in online family trees.

"You're doing exactly what everyone should do when they find 'clues' in Ancestral File, Rootsweb WorldConnect, an Ancestry.com Member Tree, or some other online family tree.  Or they find 'clues' in published books and periodical articles.  Obtain primary information in original sources if possible, and follow the Genealogical Proof Standard process to determine your own conclusions as to names, dates, places, relationships, events, etc., with appropriate source citations and research analysis.

"I hope that you will publish the results of your research, based on authoritative sources, in a genealogical periodical or on a genealogical blog or website, or even in your own book so that other researchers can have the benefit of your hard work."

What other advice would you give to my ranter?  Tell me in comments - he'll read it.

Unfortunately, those not experienced in the "art of genealogy research" don't always recognize  unsubstantiated work, or even fabricated work, as when they see it.  Most of us know that quite a bit of the online family trees are genea-crapola (new word...), but that they are potentially useful as finding aids to search for and obtain historical records that will prove our genealogy and family history. 

I hope my reader got his money's worth with his rant!  Thanks for writing!

What do you want to rant about?  I can make this a regular feature of Genea-Musings if you send them in.  They're probably more entertaining, and perhaps more useful, than my usual blog fodder.  We could even set up http://www.genea-rants.com/ as an anonymous site and have a really fun time! 

Adding a Smart Story to Family Tree Maker 2011 - Post 2

In my earlier post on this subject (Adding a Smart Story to Family Tree Maker 2011 - Post 1), I demonstrated the process of creating a Smart Story in Family Tree Maker 2011, and noted that these Smart Stories can be uploaded to an Ancestry.com Member Tree.

I didn't demonstrate if or how the Smart Story changes when current information is changed, or new information is added.

In the first post, I made a Smart Story for my great-grandfather, Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922).  In this post, I'm going to add a Fact and see if the Smart Story changes, and then I'm going to edit a Fact and see if the Smart Story changes.

1)  Here is the Person screen in the People workspace for Frank Seaver before I add a Fact:

I want to add a Baptism Fact for Frank, so after I do this (clicking the blue + (plus) button, selecting "Baptism" from the "Add Fact" list, and filling in the information), the screen looks like this:

You can see that the Baptism Fact is added to the Fact list.  Did the Smart Story change?  Here's the Smart Story after I added the Baptism Fact:

The Baptism Fact was not added to the Smart Story.  See the bottom of this post for conclusions.

2)  What if I change the information for an existing Fact?  I decided to change Frank's birth date - here's the screen as I'm changing the Birth Fact.  In the field for birth date, I changed it to 6 October 1852, as shown below:

So did the revised date show up in the Smart Story?  Here's the screen after I changed the Birth Fact:

The Smart Story changed as you can see in the screen above. 

I experimented with changing other Facts, changing the Notes, and changing the Fact Sources.  As long as I didn't add a new Fact, add another type of Note, or add a Fact Source, the Smart Story changed accordingly.

The conclusions I draw from this post are:

*  Smart Stories do change when a previously created Fact, Note, or Fact Source is edited or modified.

*  Smart Stories do not change when a newly added Fact, Note type or Fact Source is created.  The user has to create a new Smart Story if those elements are added to a Person's profile.

*  If the Smart Story in the genealogy database is changed, then the Smart Story in the Ancestry.com Member Tree will not be changed until the user uploads a new Family Tree Maker 2011 database into a new Ancestry.com Member Tree.

Tuesday's Tip - Find Ancestral Homes using Google Maps

Today's Tuesday's Tip is to:  Use Google Maps (http://maps.google.com) to find the location, and current buildings, of your ancestral homes.

Google Maps has both street maps and satellite maps, and the user can zoom in to see street and building details.  Street Views can be shown for many locations and the user can "walk" along the street and swivel the view to see street details of homes, cars, people, etc. 

The user needs to know an address, of course, in order to use the Maps to find homes.  Most cities were using street addresses by 1900, so the addresses are in the census records since 1900.  City Directories also have street addresses, when they were used.

For example:  I knew my great-grandfather Charles Auble's addresses in Chicago, Illinois from the 1900 US Census (515 West Adams Street) and the 1910 US Census (611 West 76th Street).  I went looking for these places in Google Maps and found:

*  515 West Adams Street is in downtown Chicago, and 515 is where Union Station is.

*  611 West 7th Street is south and west of downtown Chicago, west of the Dan Ryan Expressway in the Hamilton Park area.  There is no house at this location - there is a railroad track just to the east of this address - the Google Map satellite image shows a train running right beside the address when the satellite took the image.

Here is the Satellite Map view of 611 West 76th Street:

And the Street view:

I guess I don't have to bother to visit this location...

I don't know enough about the Chicago street numbering system to determine if the homes were on the north side of the streets or the south sides of the street, or if the street numbering system in 1900 and 1910 are the same as today.

The address system in some cities may have changed between the time your ancestor lived in the location.  City Directories will usually describe the street numbering system, and the user should check a directory from the time your ancestor lived there and a more recent directory that can be tied to the neighborhood. 

I'll discuss using Google Maps to find a more rural ancestral home location in another Tuesday's Tip.

An interesting record - has anyone used it?

One of my students in my Beginning Computer Genealogy senior adult class today asked me if i'd seen the book about miscreant deeds o f women, abused wives and unfortunate children in the Family History Library Catalog.

I admitted that I had not, but was ecstatic that she was using the FHLC and had found something so obscure.  It sounded interesting, so I went looking for it.

It is in the "Pennsylvania, Philadelphia" section of the FHLC in the "Social life and customs" and the "History" subject.  Here is the record description:

Elopements and other miscreant deeds of women as advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette together with a few abused wives and unfortunate children

 

stmt. resp.:	compiled by Judith Ann Meier
authors:	Meier, Judith Ann Highley (Main Author)
	Pennsylvania gazette (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), (Added Author)
format:	Books/Monographs
language:	English
publications:	Norristown, Pennsylvania : J.A. Meier, c1986
physical:	1 v. in various foliations
subject class:	974.811 B3

Notes

Includes indexes.
Records cover 1730-1789.

It's on the shelf at the Family History Library.  Has anybody found a family member in this book? 

Are there works like this available in other large cities?  A book like this might be really useful for researchers dealing with large cities with a significant immigrant population, like Philadelphia was in the 18th century.

I looked for repositories for this work on http://worldcat.org/ and did not find any.  Apparently, the FHL is not on WorldCat!  I didn't know that, and am disappointed that it is not. 

Dear Randy: Why the false geography in your database?

Reader BK commented on my LADD Surname Saturday post:

"After all the posts about source citations ... why the false Geography in your database ?

"The Ladds were in Colonial America.  And the " US " did not exist yet.

"I hope you are entering the true locations during your database update."

I wondered how long it would take for a sharp-eyed reader to catch this in my Surname Saturday posts!  As astute readers know, I recently converted all of my Place locations to "Standard" places using Family Tree Maker 2011 software.  My reason for doing this was to enable geo-coding of the place names, and to get more consistency in my place names.  My understanding is that the FamilySearch Family Tree, and probably other online family trees in the future, will require Standard place names.  FamilySearch has a Standard Finder with their standard place names.

As BK points out, I no longer have the "historical place identification" associated with the places when many of my ancestral families were living in colonial America (including Canada).  Some examples:

*  The present state of Massachusetts was comprised of Massachusetts Bay Colony and Plymouth Colony until the two were merged before 1700.  The state of Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820.  Rhode Island was the colony of "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."  New York was "New Amsterdam" before 1664.  And so on.

*  County names were changed and boundaries moved over time.  Some of the earliest towns presently in Essex County, Massachusetts were originally in Old Norfolk County (which included some New Hampshire towns also).  A "new" Norfolk County was  formed in 1793 and took part of Suffolk County in the process.  The "purist" genealogist would clearly define which county the records were in, and denote whether it was in Massachusetts Bay Colony, Suffolk County (before 1793) or Norfolk County (after 1793). 

*  Some town names were changed - for instance, Narragansett No. 2 became Westminster in Massachusetts, Raby became Brookline in New Hampshire, etc.  Town boundaries changed over time.

*  The area west of the Appalachian Mountains were native American areas or colonial provinces of England, Spain, France, Russia, then Territories of the United States, and then States.  The southern states seceded in 1861 are were re-admitted to the Union after the Civil War.  The "purist" genealogist would say to use terms like "Cherokee territory," "Wisconsin Territory," "State of Franklin," "Alabama, CSA" for records during the time periods in question.

*  The area now the province of Ontario in Canada went through "Upper Canada," "Canada West," and then "Ontario" as Canada's situation changed. 

*  God only knows how many places in Germany and Eastern Europe should be called a Principality, or Duchy, or other jurisdictional terms.  The case can be made for using the present country names, in the native language, for countries all over the world, rather than the English translation, or equivalent.

Frankly, my genealogy database was really messed up insofar as Place names were concerned prior to standardizing my Place names.  If I had followed the "purist" route, I would have changed every place name in colonial or territorial times, or for town, county or state name or boundary changes, to the correct jurisdiction.

Unfortunately, the geo-coding and map definition in the software programs would be really fooled by many of the historical place names and I would probably have to change every one of them again - over 300,000 events - when they were ported to a family tree that requires Standard place names.

Therefore, I took the easy route - I standardized my Place names to the collection of places in Family Tree Maker 2011.  That permits me to use the mapping functions in the software, and will permit me, I hope, to upload my tree to family tree databases that require standard place names.  I can now identify the geographical location of an event.

As a seasoned genealogy researcher, I know that names and boundaries changed over historical time, and I know that part of my research task is to determine the proper jurisdiction of each Place in my database and search in the appropriate repositories for the records in those jurisdictions. 

I appreciate and encourage the "purist" genealogists, those who consistently use the historical jurisdictions in their database, and are sticklers for accuracy and completeness. I also understand that peer-reviewed publications usually want the historical place names used, especially when names and boundaries have changed. 

Even though my database uses the Standard place names, and the standard convention of "Town, County, State, Country (for the USA)," the genealogy software permits a place description to be added for specific events.  Therefore, I will eventually add comments to the description such as "was Raby town before 1797," or "was in Suffolk County before 1793" to help the reader understand some of the historical jurisdictions.

What does your database have?  Are all of your place names consistent - either historical jurisdictions or present standard names?   How have you managed this place name and record jurisdiction problem?

Thank you, BK, for the interesting comment.

Amanuensis Monday - Probate Record of Elijah Champlin (1730-1779) of South Kingstown, RI

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. 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."

The subject today is the probate file of Elijah Champlin (1730-1779) of South Kingstown, Rhode Island.  He married Phoebe Card (1730-1787) and they had children:  Phoebe Champlin (1752-????); Elijah Champlin (1756-1825); Joseph Champlin (1758-1850); William Champlin (1759-1844); Mary Champlin (1760-????); Jeffrey Champlin (1761-1837); Amy Champlin (1762-????); Hannah Champlin (1764-????); Anna Champlin (1766-????); Elizabeth Champlin (1768-????); Alice Champlin (1770-????).

Elijah Champlin of South Kingstown died testate, having written a will dated 14 January 1779, which was proved on 19 February 1779.  The will reads (transcribed by the author from the South Kingstown (Rhode Island) Probate and Town Council Records, Volume 6, Page 110-112, on FHL Microfilm 0,931,835.  Some words are difficult to read on the microfilm; paragraphs created for readability):

"Be it Remembered that I Elijah Champlin of South Kingstown in the County of Kings County & State of Rhode Island & Providence Plantation being sick and weak in body but of a sound disposing mind & memory Thanks be to God and Calling to mind the mortality of mankind & the Time thereof being uncertain Do make and ordain this my last Will & Testament in manner & form following that is to say -

"First and Principally I recommend my soul into the Hands of Almighty God who gave it and my body to the Earth to be buried in a Christian Like manner at the Discretion of my Executors herein after named and touching such worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me I give and bequeath the same as followeth --

"Imprimus  I give & bequeath unto my beloved son Elijah Champlin the Feather Bed that he useth to Lodge on, with Bedstead and beddings thereto belonging, except Curtins --

"Item  I give unto my said son Elijah Champlin one Gun one ????? ????? ????? one pair of Pistols, he to have his choice of all my Guns ???? ???? & pistols.

"Item  I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Jeffery Champlin one ???? one Cart??? & one pair of pistols his choice next after his brother Elijah.

"Item  I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Joseph Champlin one Gun he to have next choice  Also I give to my said son Joseph Champlin my broad Cloath Coat now riped up and one new Holland shirt.

"Item  I give and bequeath unto my beloved son William Champlin one Gun he to have the next choice Also my Large Coat & one new Holland shirt.

"Item  I give and bequeath unto my beloved Daughters Mary Gavot and Phebe Card, one pair of Fire Tongs each.

"Item  I give and bequeath unto my beloved Daughter Amey Young the Feather Bed Bedstead & Furniture she useth to Lodge on except the Curtins Also one Iron Kettle Fire Shovel & Tongs and one Puter platter.

"Item  I give & bequeath unto each of my beloved Daughters Hannah Champlin Anna Champlin Elizabeth Champlin and Alice Champlin one good decent suit of Cloaths fitting & suitable for them respectively when they shall arrive at their respective age of Eighteen years.

"And as to the rest of my Personal Estate be it of what kind or nature soever I give and bequeath the same to my well beloved Wife Phebe Champlin as well for the payment of all my Just Debts & Funeral Charges as also for the payment of the Legacies herein bequeathed and for her support & the support and maintenance of my four youngest daughters to wit Hannah, Anna, Elizabeth, & Alice, till they shall respectively be able to support themselves, and after that Time what I have herein given to my wife to remain to her own use forever.

"Lastly I hereby nominate and appoint my well beloved wife Phebe Champlin Executrix and my beloved son Elijah Champlin Executor of this my Last Will and Testament revoking and Disannulling all former & other wills by me heretofore made ratifying & Confirming this and no other to be my Last Will & Testament.  In Witness whereof I the said Elijah Champlin have hereunto my Hand & seal the fourteenth day of Jany in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy nine.
Signed Sealed Published & Declared
by Mr. Elijah Champlin the Testator to be
his Last Will & Testament
In Presence of  .................................................... Elijah Champlin (seal)
F. Perry
Syrus Babcock"

On ?? March 1779, Freeman Perry and Cyrus Babcock declared that they saw Elijah Champlin, late deceased, sign, seal, publish and declare that the aforementioned instrument to be his last will and testament and that they set their hands as witnesses at the same time in the presence of the testator, and that the testator was of a good sound disposing mind and memory.  The will was approved and recorded.

There were no other probate records found in the South Kingstown record books for Elijah Champlin.  This couple had eleven children, and they are all alive when Elijah wrote his will.  He bequeathed "male" things like clothes, tools and guns to his four sons.  Notice that the remainder of the estate, after the bequests given to the children, all went to his wife for the support of herself and their youngest children. 

The fact that daughters Mary, Amy and Phebe are married implies that they are at least 18 years of age, or close to it. 

"Puter" is, of course, "pewter," not "comPUTER."

Best of the Genea-Blogs - February 20-26, 2011

...
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:
*  Toward a Genealogical Democracy by Greta Koehl on the Greta's Genealogi Bog blog.  Greta has a nice summary of recent discussions about genealogy demographics and how societies interact with the industry.

*  Motivation Monday - Cherie's Got Her Groove Back by Cheryl Cayemberg on the Have You Seen My Roots? blog.  Cherie found that a thorny research problem really helped her survive the week.  An excellent research adventure.

*  Genealogy Societies: What Keeps You Coming Back for More? by Amy Coffin on the We Tree blog.  Amy asks for responses to "What do you like about the genealogy societies to which you belong? What makes you stay a member and renew each year?"

*  RootsTech Ketchup by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog.  Mr. AI covers the news for the last month, with a heavy dollop of RootsTech ketchup.

*  RootsTech 2011 Review by Renee Zamora on Renee's Genealogy Blog.  Renee summarizes her RootsTech experience.  Everybody's was different!

*  How Do We Make Genealogy Fun for Everyone? by Kimberly Powell on Kimberly's Genealogy Blog.   Kimberly writes probably the best post of the month!  Amen!

*  It's Not Going To Be As Easy As It Looks On TV by footnoteMaven on the footnoteMaven blog.  fM opines on the genealogy society, source citation and WDYTYA all in one post.  Amen!

* A Plethora of GEDCOM revisionists - YES! by Pat Richley-Erickson on DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog.  Ol' MYRT summarized why users are trying to revise GEDCOM files, saying "For good genealogists, it's all about sources."  Amen, sister!

* Genealogy Inc. v. Genealogists -- Part One, the Introduction and   Part Two, What is in a name? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  James decided to test Ancestry.com's saying of "You don't even have to know what you're looking for."  

*  The RootsTech Revolution – Woodstock or Waterloo? by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog.   Thomas thinks that RootsTech was game-changing - genealogy's Woodstock moment.  But there are also problems ahead.

*  The Digital Age Discourages Sharing by Marian Pierre-Louis on Marian's Roots and Rambles blog.  Marian's thoughtful post discusses the backside of social networking - does it discourage sharing?

*  WDYTYA – Episode 2×03 – The Nitpicker’s Version by Banai Feldstein on The Ginger Jewish Genealogist blog.  Every week, Banai provides the most detailed and incisive look at the WDYTYA? episodes.  I really enjoy reading them.

*  Thriller Thursday: Mean People, Dysfunctional Families, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 by Yvonne on The Mashburn Collection blog.   This is a stunning, sad and uplifting series of posts by Yvonne about her birth father. 

*  RootsTech Two Weeks After by Polly Kimmitt on the Pollyblog blog.  Polly summarizes her RootsTech experience with interesting observations.

*  What To Do With Skeletons in the Closet by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net blog.  Susan offers some interesting questions, and a lot of readers chimed in.

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

*  Friday Newsletter and Follow News 25 February 2011 by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Bog blog.

*  Follow Friday: This Week’s Favs by Jen on the Climbing My Family Tree blog.

*  Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere - February 25 by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net 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 820 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.