Jean Wilcox Hibben Series on National Archives Records

...
I received an email from genea-blogger (Circlemending), speaker and genea-musician par excellence Jean Wilcox Hibben, who lives in Riverside County, California.  As luck would have it, the Pacific Region branch of the National Archives moved to Perris, California just a few miles from her home!  Talk about good fortune!  Apparently, Jean is working there also! 

Jean has started mining records on her ancestral families at the Archives branch, and sent this email to me:

"I want to let you know about a blogging project I have begun, in conjunction with the National Archives, Pacific Region, Riverside County (CA). There are many microfilms with helpful genealogical information, available for viewing, but most people are unaware of them. With the help of Kerry Bartels, my supervisor there, and Gwen Granados, the director, I am highlighting some of these collections throughout the upcoming weeks and months. The first of the blogs simply tells how to navigate the NARA site to find microfilms, then I focus on Letters of Application and Recommendation from various Presidential administrations. Below are the links to these 4 different blogs."

National Archives, Pacific Region, Riverside County, CA - How to Find Microfilms in the Facility (posted 25 February 2011)

Letters of Application and Recommendation During Presidential Administrations, 1797-1877, Microfilm Collection, NARA Riverside (posted 22 March 2011)

Letters of Application and Recommendation During the Administration of Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-1877, Microfilm Collection, NARA Riverside (posted 23 March 2011)

Letters of Application and Recommendation During the Administration of Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-1877, Examples from NARA, Riverside (posted 24 March 2011)

Letters of Application and Recommendation During the Administration of Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-1877, Microfilm Collection, NARA Riverside, continued (posted 29 March 2011)

The first one, about finding records on the National Archives site, is especially useful for all researchers.  The step-by-step instructions can be applied for any National Archives facility.

The posts about specific documents available in National Archives record collections are useful as examples of collections that should be searched for your ancestors. 

Note that the method to access the Index for the specific records that Jean is discussing was described in the first post in her series.  Once you have an index entry for your person of interest, you can then go to the National Archives branch that has the record (not every branch has every record set) and read the microfilm (yes, they are on microfilms, not yet imaged or indexed and online). 

I know that I have avoided going to the National Archives branch for many years, and have been very confused by the organization of their records and how to access them.  Jean has provided a wonderful entre into this vital resource that may hold solutions to many elusive ancestor problems. 

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 146: Gram, Mom and Nana

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.

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

 

 

I love three and four generation photographs.  The persons in this picture are, from the left, Emily Kemp (Auble) Carringer (1899-1977), Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) and Georgianna (Kemp) Auble (1868-1952).  They are, of course, my maternal grandmother, my mother and my great-grandmother.  This picture was taken in November 1929 (according to the caption on the back of the photo), and was probably taken beside the Lyle and Emily Carringer home at 2130 Fern Street in San Diego. 

 

My brothers and I called these three "Gram," "Mom" and "Nana." 

 

I don't have many pictures of my mother smiling, and this is a good one!  She looks tall for age 10, and I can see my oldest daughter in her face.  Besides that, these females are in my direct matrilineal line and share my mitochondrial DNA! 

CVGS Program on Wednesday, 30 March: "Handwriting and History"

The March Program Meeting for the Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) is Wednesday, 30 March at 12 noon in the Auditorium at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street, Chula Vista).  After a short business meeting, the Program speaker will be Paula A. Sassi on "Handwriting and History."

Handwriting Analysis gives a glimpse of the past through antique handwritten books, letters and documents.
By exploring a fantastic collection of antique handwriting samples, you will achieve an even deeper insight into what handwriting can reveal about bygone eras. From paupers to presidents, the personality of each writer becomes evident from not only the words they wrote, but the letter formations they used. Examples include old hotel directories containing famous signatures, an 1890’s Mayor’s Docket from the City of Waco, Texas, letters from the Civil War and WWII, autograph books and other unique memorabilia. Take a trip back in time to experience history in a whole new way and find out information the history books never told you.

Paula A. Sassi, Certified Master Graphologist, has worked professionally in the field of handwriting analysis since 1980. Owner and director of her own corporation, Paula serves a diverse group of clients in the area of personnel selection, behavioral profiling and compatibility analysis. Top businesses and corporations seek her services for help in hiring and promoting personnel as well as in conflict resolution. Author, lecturer and teacher, Paula offers you one sure guarantee, you will never look at handwriting quite the same again.

Please enter through the Conference Room door on the East hallway at the library in order to register your presence, receive handouts, buy a drawing ticket and have a light snack.  There will be a social time after the meeting in the Conference Room.

For more information about attending this meeting, or about CVGS, please contact Virginia (email irishdoll@cox.net or phone 619-425-7922).

Internet Genealogy Magazine - April/May 2011 Issue

I received my PDF file for the April/May 2011 issue of Internet Genealogy magazine today, and thought I'd share the Table of Contents:

*  page 7:  Skype Your Genealogy! -- Lisa A. Alzo discusses five ways you can use Skype for your family history research

*  page 9:  Florida Memory Project: An Online Goldmine -- Tony Bandy goes online and examines a fantastic resource for family history research

*  page 13:  Genes Reunited -- Marian Press sings the praises of a unique genealogical website

*  page 16: Civil War Genealogical Resources, State by State: Part Two -- David A. Norris takes an in-depth look at the resources available for tracing your Civil War ancestors

*  page 20:  Jewish Transmigration to a Promised Land --  Melody Amsel Arieli looks at online resources for tracing your Jewish ancestors

*  page 24:  Turning Online Genealogy Data Entry into an Application --  According to Howard Burdick, a little ingenuity, and a lot of data, goes a long way!

*  page 31 -- Almanac and Annual Reviews -- David A. Norris looks at a treasure trove of genealogical information

*  page 33: Scandinavian Roots and FamilySearch -- Margaret H. Strand examines a great resource for tracing your Scandinavian ancestors

*  page 37 -- Are You Ready For the 1940 Census? -- Daniel M. Lynch looks at the eagerly awaited release of the 16th census for the United States of America

*  page 40:  Vital Records at Your Fingertips -- Donna Murray shows you where to find vital records online

*  page 42:  Using Upper Canada Land Petitions for Research -- Guylaine Petrin looks at the latest online release from Library and Archives Canada

*  page 47:  Five Ways to Use social Media to Find Your Family -- Gena Philibert Ortega shows you how to use people to power your genealogy research

*  page 50:  Cool Tools For Publishing Your Family History -- Lisa A. Alzo discusses some online resources to help get your family’s story into print

*  page 54:  Office of Coast Survey -- David A. Norris examines the latest resources available from this little-known site

This issue had several excellent articles that I've printed out for my "how-to" research files, and to share at the CVGS Research Group in two weeks.

Exploring WikiTree -- Post 10: Merging Two Profiles

...
The Exploring WikiTree Compendium has all of the posts in this series. 

Because I imported only ten generations of my ancestry, I did not have my Mayflower 1620 passengers in my WikiTree database.  I decided to add three more generations of ancestors for several of my "end-of-line in WikiTree" ancestors to test the Merge process and to try to attract more collaborators.  I uploaded a GEDCOM with 360 more persons in it, including four of my earlier uploaded persons.  At least, that's what I thought.

One of the ancestors that I added more generations for was William White (1683-1700), whose parents were Sylvanus and Deborah (--?--) White.  Here is my Profile of him from my first GEDCOM submission:

In the William White Profile above, you'll notice that it lists his spouse and children, but not his parents.

Here is my Profile of the same William White from my second GEDCOM submission.  You'll notice that it lists his spouse and parents, but not his children:

Because these are the same person, but have two Profiles in WikiTree (both submitted my myself), they need to be Merged.  How do I do that? 

I went to the Search for Matches from my NavPage.  After scrolling through several pages of matches with other WikiTreers, I finally found my William White born 1683, and there were two Profiles created by myself:



There is a "[merge]" link after the second one.  I clicked on that (two overlapping screens below):

There was a list of the information for each of the Profiles for William White born 1683,   The left-hand column has information colored green, and includes the parents of William White.  The middle column has information colored yellow, and does not include the parents of William White.  The "new" William White in the right-hand column has the information from the green column by default, plus any information from the yellow column that is not included in the green column (which shows up in yellow in the right-hand column, no examples of this on the screen above).  If the user wants to use the information in the yellow column for one or more facts, then they unclick the check box to the left of the green column for specific Facts.  If the check box is unclicked (so that the check disappears), then the information in the "new" Profile turns yellow color.  This is really neat once you figure it out. 

At the bottom of the "Merging" page above is a "Merge Profiles" button.  I clicked on it and saw:

The screen above says that the two profiles were merged into one.  Were they?  Here is the Profile for William White-2352 (which was the Profile number for him from the first GEDCOM upload):

The screen above shows that the parents of William White born 1683 has been added to the Profile.  The Family Tree for William White also shows the link:



That worked, but finding the matches seemed pretty clunky to me (see Post 9 for details).  I had to scroll through several pages to find the specific match using the WHITE surname.  The actual Merging process is pretty easy and fast.

I should have checked the WikiTree Help section first, I think.  The Help page for Merging says:

"If there is more than one profile page about the same person, they should be merged.

"Here is the merge tool.

"Note that you need to be in the Trusted List of both profiles before you can merge them. If someone else created one of the profiles you may need to request access.

"Warning: Merge should be used with caution. It is irreversible. Once two records are combined they can't be separated again."

When will I learn to check the Help page first?  It must be a male thing... I guess that there is no such thing as a wrong way, it can always be used as a bad example.  I digress.

There appears to be a "better way" to do the merges, according to the Help page.  That's good, because it seems that I have many more than four matches in my two uploaded GEDCOM files, since the siblings of the "end-of-line first GEDCOM" persons were uploaded in the second GEDCOM.  I'll report on this "better way" in the next post.

One suggestion for a WikiTree improvement is to be able to perform a search for duplicates owned by the WikiTree user.  I didn't see a way to do that - I had to do it using the surname for the whole WikiTree system rather than for just my WatchList (more on the WatchList soon!).  Even better would be an automated WikiTree matching system that tells me that I have duplicates and asks if I want to merge them.  I think Chris is working on improving the Merging system.  I'll wait! 

Tuesday's Tip - Consider Name Variations For Elusive Ancestors

...
Today's Tuesday's Tip is:  Consider Name Variations, based on spelling or pronunciation, for those elusive ancestors that you can't find in the census or other records.

The LDS FamilySearch Research Wiki has a page titled "Guessing a Name Variation" with twenty ways to find an elusive name including using competing indexes, initials, abbreviations, middle names, nicknames, IGI standardized names, translations, letter substitutes, finding relatives, and searching the record without an index.  Try out the methods described in this list for your elusive surname.

In the list of 20 ways, there are links to several other useful wiki pages, including:

*  Traditional Nicknames in Old Documents - A Wiki List
*  Spelling Substitution Tables for the United States and Canada - includes commonly misread letters, and phonetic substitutes
*  Rookie Mistakes - check these out, and see if you're still making them

The neat thing about a wiki is that it gathers the collected wisdom and experience of many researchers, not just the author of an article.

FamilySearch.org U.S. Vital Record Collections summaries

Leland Meitzler has done the genealogy community a big favor on his GenealogyBlog - he has captured the current list of United States Vital Records historical record collections on the LDS FamilySearch site (https://www.familysearch.org/s/collection/list).  Leland has written three blog posts:

1)  United States Birth & Christening Records Found at FamilySearch.org - there are presently 47 databases for 34 states, plus one relatively small database covering the entire USA.  The states presently covered are:  Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia,  Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin

2)  United States Death & Probate Records at FamilySearch.org - there are presently 78 databases for 41 states plus the District of Columbia. In addition, you will find two USA-wide indexes at the end of this list. Note that of the 78 databases, 27 of them contained digitized images of the original documents.   The states presently covered are:  Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Internet Genealogical Research, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Vital Records, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin

3)  United States Marriage Documents & Indexes Found at FamilySearch.org  - there are presently 62 databases with records for 41 states and the District of Columbia.  The states presently covered are:  Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia,  Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Leland has updated the Marriage list several times, and the Death list once.  Hopefully, he will continue to update these lists as more information is added to the FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.

Lists of the databases for each state, including the number of images and number of indexed records, can be created at the FamilySearch site (https://www.familysearch.org/s/collection/list) and using the search box in the top of the left-hand column.  Enter a state name in the search field and all of the databases with the state name in the collection title will appear.  This works for countries also.  Since FamilySearch is adding quite a few databases each month, check the state and country lists regularly.  They are much easier to find this way, rather than searching through the list of (currently 583) historical record collection titles. 

Thank you, Leland!  I really appreciate these vital record lists.

Some Comments from Chris Whitten on my Exploring WikiTree posts

As I've been Exploring Wikitree, a relatively new FREE online family tree using a wiki format, the creator of WikiTree, Chris Whitten has been commenting on my posts with suggestions and explanations.  It's been great to have these comments, and I want to share them with my readers.  The Exploring WikiTree Compendium has all of the posts in this series.  Here are some of the comments by Chris:

1)  In the post Exploring WikiTree - Post 5: Adding Photos:

"You wrote: "I haven't figured out yet how to delete a photograph from the Photo list, or change the preferred photo once I have more than one."

"Users often ask these questions, so we'll have to figure out a better way to explain them.

"I'll answer the latter question first since it's easier. You can replace the preferred/primary photo for a person by selecting another one. You check the box on the image editing page in the right column. If you want to remove (and not replace) the photo, you can uncheck the box.

"The explanation for deleting images is a little more complicated. Actually, it's not just a complicated explanation ... because there is no way to delete a photo! Sounds crazy, I know.

"You can remove a photo so that it doesn't appear anywhere. To do this, you just click the "REMOVE" link under the person or page's name on the photo editing page. The image will not appear anywhere but it will still exist on our server. This way, if you want to recover it later it still exists. Photos that aren't associated with any profile are automatically deleted periodically.

"Leaving the photo on the server can be valuable because other trusted people can "REMOVE" someone (even the last person) from a photo you uploaded. Your cousin might be saying "that's not Aunt Jane in this photo" and your cousin might be right. Or he might be wrong. The point is that images are collaboratively tagged and edited just like other things on WikiTree. And since they're collaborative, we need some protections against deletions.

"All that said, we've been working on a way to enable the person who uploaded a photo to delete the photo without eliminating the benefit described above. In the meantime, anyone who needs a photo deleted can ask us to do it immediately rather than waiting for it to be automatically cleared."
2)  In the post Exploring WikiTree - Post 8: Searching for Common Ancestors:

"Counter-intuitively, the most direct way to make connections on WikiTree -- a search like you explain above -- isn't the most common.

"There is an automatic search when you add a new person to WikiTree. For example, if you had added Peregrine White manually while growing your tree it would have shown you the list of possible matches.

"Since many advanced users like you import a GEDCOM, and automatic searches don't kick-in, there is a tool for searching your entire Watchlist for possible matches. http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:FindMatches  This way you don't need to search for matches for Peregrine White and then William White, etc., etc. It will show you all the potential matches on one page.

"Still, most connections on WikiTree currently happen in a completely different way. People find you on Google.

"I like to say that our search page isn't http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:SearchPerson  -- it's http://www.google.com/.

"Someday a distant cousin of yours will be searching for one of your common ancestors on Google and find the WikiTree page you created. It could take weeks or months, I know, but it will happen. That cousin will be in research mode and they'll be ready to collaborate. That's when the real benefits of wiki collaboration will start to kick in for you."
3)  In the post Exploring Wikitree - Post 9: Another Search for Matches:

"Our search system is more primitive than you imagine! Good search algorithms are remarkably complex. We're releasing some major improvements to our matching system in the next couple days, but it will still return a lot of matches that any human could easily eliminate.

"The colored icons don't indicate anything except the Privacy Level. I'll look for a way to clarify that."
 I really appreciate that Chris takes the time to explain some of the areas that I have challenges with, both in comments and in private emails.  He has expressed his gratitude in other posts for the suggestions that I, and my readers, have made while I've been exploring WikiTree.  It's fun for me to see a new FREE family tree system grow and expand and to play a small part in it.


If you've been looking for a FREE family tree system that encourages collaboration, then I suggest that you try WikiTree.  My opinion is that it's the easiest to use collaborative family tree currently available.

If you are struggling with WikiTree features, I suggest that you read the Help pages on http://www.wikitree.com/ and if you're still struggling, email Chris Whitten at cwhitten@gmail.com and ask questions and let him help you.

Amanuensis Monday - Norman Seaver's Probate Records

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 intestate probate packet of Norman Seaver (1734-1787), who died in Westminster, Worcester County, Massachusetts.  Norman married Sarah Read in 1755 in Sudbury, and they had 13  children:  Eunice Seaver (1755-1810); Benjamin Seaver (1757-1816); Sarah Seaver (1759-1833); Joseph Seaver (1761-????); Isaac Seaver (1763-????); Ethan Seaver (1765-1823); Daniel Seaver (1767-????); Heman Seaver (1769-1835); Luther Seaver (1771-????); Leafe Seaver (1774-1795); Asahel Read Seaver (1775-1849); Faitha Seaver (1777-????); and Lucinda Seaver (1780-1844).

I have summarized, rather than transcribed, the documents in the probate packet.  Norman Seaver, gentleman of Westminster, died intestate.  His probate docket (Worcester County Probate Records, Probate Packet 52,914) includes the following documents:

1) On 25 Sep 1787, Widow Sarah Sever was appointed administratrix of the estate, and bond in the amount of 2000 pounds was given by William Edgell and Josiah Puffer, sureties (Worcester County Probate Records, 179.530, LDS Microfilm 0,860,627). 

2)  On 28 Sep 1787 a Warrant of Appraisal was given for an inventory to be taken. (Worcester County Probate Records, 21.487, LDS Microfilm 0,856,285). 

3)  On 21 Oct 1788 the Account Balance of 150 pounds 19 shillings was allowed (Worcester County Probate Records, 22.139, LDS Microfilm 0,856,286).

4)  On 21 Oct 1788 a Warrant for partition of the estate was issued to William Edgell, Josiah Puffer and Edward Jackson (Worcester County Probate Records, 24.263, LDS Microfilm 0,856,314).  They found the home place with buildings and land comprised 106 acres lying in Westminster.  An additional 3 acres were held in common with Timothy Heywood, Samuel Miller, and William Murdock, all of Westminster. 

5)   In 1791, the inventory was recorded, with Real estate 215 pounds and personal estate of 159 pounds,19 shillings and 9 pence.  The real estate included the 106 acre house lot with buildings (212 pounds) and a piece of land in common with Timothy Heywood and Samuel ??? and William Murdock (3 pounds) (Worcester County Probate Records, 24.370, LDS Microfilm 0,856,314).

6)  On 3 Jan 1792, the Account balance of 3 pounds, 13 shillings and 9 pence was allowed and distribution to the heirs was ordered (Worcester County Probate Records, 24.358, LDS Microfilm 0,856,314).   Heirs named in the distribution are:

widow Sarah Seaver (1/3 dower right)
son Benjamin Sever (2/3 real estate + double portion)
son Isaac Sever,
son Ethan Sever,
son Daniel Sever,
son Heman Sever,
son Luther Sever,
son Asel Sever,
daughter Eunice Whitney (wife of Elisha Whitney)
daughter Sarah Cutter (wife of Josiah Cutter),
daughter Relief Sever,
daughter Faithfull Sever,
daughter Lucinda Sever

7)  In the distribution, son Benjamin Sever was awarded his double portion of 22 pounds and was ordered to pay the other children their equal share of 11 pounds each. (Worcester County Probate Records, 24.358, LDS Microfilm 0,856,314).

On 3 January 1792, Sarah Seaver was appointed guardian for daughters Feathe and Lucenden Seaver, while Samuel Gerrish was appointed guardian for Asel and Relief Seaver (Worcester County Probate Records, Probate Packet 52,863).

Twelve of the thirteen children of Norman and Sarah (Read) Seaver are named in the distribution of the estate, so we know that those twelve are living in 1787.  The one missing is the son Joseph, who must have died before 1787.  I have found no other record for him besides his birth record. 

The married surnames of two daughters are also provided, but the four youngest daughters have not married yet. 

The lesson learned with records like this is that the children of the intestate deceased person are almost always named in the probate records if there is real estate or significant personal estate to be divided up.  The widow received her 1/3 share of the home lot, and I believe that she lived on it with her minor children and her son Benjamin, who received the other 2/3 of the home lot but had to pay his siblings a sum of money (a 1/13 share of the estate after the widow's third was accounted for).  The 1/13 share comes about from the 12 children and Benjamin received a double share for being the oldest son. 

Norman Seaver is my fifth great-grandfather, and I descend through the eldest son, Benjamin Seaver.

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 20-26 March 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:

* Free Stuff on the Internet by Kerry Scott on the Clue Wagon blog.  Kerry notes that nothing is free, and we all should know the risks of using internet websites.  Excellent summary, and comments too.

*  GenPerfect-3 by Mark Tucker on the ThinkGenealogy blog.  Mark keeps having ideas, and receiving comments about his ideas, for the perfect genealogy software.

*  United States Death & Probate Records at FamilySearch.org by Leland Meitzler on the GenealogyBlog.  Leland lists the online death and probate databases in the FamilySearch collection - nice job!  I hope he keeps it updated.

*  Unique to Each One by Leah on The Internet Genealogist blog.  Leah summarizes the ancestry of her eight great-grandparents, and finds that each has unique origins and resources to search.  She sure has a lot of places to search!

*  How to Price a "Lookup?" by Marian Pierre-Louis on Marian's Roots and Rambles blog.  Marian explains the difficulty of giving a fixed price for a record that researchers don't know exist or don't know the size or extent of.  I hope she gets some good answers!

*  Are You a Genealogist? by Cheri Hopkins on The "You Go Genealogy Girls" blog.  Cheri says she is one, even though she's not a professional, and tells us why.  Wise young lady!

*  Virtual Genealogy Education Lecture Links by Angela McGhie on the Adventures in Genealogy Education blog.  Angela has links to all of the websites with online webinars, presentations, study groups and formal education courses.  I hope that she keeps it up-to-date!

*  A Step By Step Analysis of a Genealogy Search by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog.  Follow along with Lorine as she searches for her Aunt Marge's ancestors - it's a great study showing the availability of online records and the difficulties encountered.

*  Introducing B&F Enhanced Genealogy Search by Philip Trauring on the Blood and Frogs blog.  Philip has created a genealogy-oriented search engine - try it out!

*  Serial Entrepreneurship and Genealogy by Dave Voelker on the Digicopia blog.  This was the "open discussion" topic on GeneaBloggers on Thursday - Dave has experience and knowledge, and shares it with us.

*  Last Writes by Dead Man Talking on the Blogging a Dead Horse blog.  DMT writes about epitaphs in this post - I love it!  More material for my Genealogy is Fun! talk.

*  United States Birth & Christening Records Found at FamilySearch.org by Leland Meitzler on the GenealogyBlog.  Leland put the Birth and Baptism list together too!  These will be very useful to many researchers.

*  When Men Were Men, Women Were Women, and Cars Had Muscle! by footnoteMaven on the footnoteMaven blog.  This is a Carnival post, and I know I shouldn't include it here, but I have to because it is such a great post!  Ah, the memories!

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

*  Follow Friday Newsletter 25 March 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 - March 25 by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net.

I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs 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 860 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.