(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 207: Shuffleboard

 I am posting photographs from my family collections for (Not So) Wordless Wednesday (you know me, I can't go wordless!).    

Here is a picture from our recent Royal Caribbean cruise (Norway-France-Ireland-England-Scotland-Norway).  

The time is Sunday, 13 May 2012 at about 2 p.m. (France time).  The place is the 10th Deck of the Vision of the Seas cruise ship in the North Sea between Oslo and Le Havre.  This shuffleboard court is on the port side forward along the walking/jogging track.

The two shuffleboard players in the picture at Geoff Rasmussen (shooting the puck) and Luc Comeau (shivering and watching).  Geoff and Luc are part of the Legacy Family Tree team.  The temperature is about 10 C (50 F) and the wind over this top deck is about 40 knots (ship speed = 20 knots, headwind - 20 knots).  Wind Chill = COLD!

The wind would gust and curve the puck near the end of its' journey, or would lift the puck and make it roll off the shuffleboard court.  

Luc and Geoff invited me to play, so I did.  Fortunately, there are no pictures of me playing.  We had a lot of fun, and many laughs.  Thank you to Geoff and Luc for taking pity on my frozenness and letting me get warmed up a bit.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-207.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Creating an Ancestor List ("Ahnentafel") in Family Tree Maker 2012

In response to my Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post, I received an email question from a reader who asked "How do I make an Ahnentafel using my genealogy software?"  It struck me that perhaps some readers do not know what an "ahnentafel" is...so I'll show how my three genealogy software programs create one.

Each program does this differently, with somewhat different results, so I'll go through Legacy Family Tree 7.5, Family Tree Maker 2012 and RootsMagic 5 in a series of posts.   The Legacy Family Tree 7.5 example is here.

Note that I like to use the term "Ancestor List" rather than "Ahnentafel" for this list, since it is really not a "Name Table."  For this "Ancestor List," I want ONLY the ancestor name, birth date and place, death date and place, and marriage date and place.  For me, a printed "Ancestor List" is much easier to use than a series of linked and printed pedigree charts.

Note:  Russ Worthington posted Creating Ahnentafel Report in Family Tree Maker 2012 today, but he included children in a multi-generational ancestors ("ahnentafel") report, rather than an Ancestor List (without children).  One thing he did that I liked was he included the Sources in his Report.  I'll do that in this post also.

1)  Family Tree Maker 2012, with myself highlighted on the Legacy Family View, I clicked on the "Publish" workspace button in the top Menu icon row. The "Publish" workspace opened, and I selected the "Genealogy Report" set of reports, and then highlighted the "Ahnentafel Report" thumbnail:

 2)  After double-clicking on the "Ahnentafel Report" icon (or clicking on the "Create Report" button on the right-hand side), the report opened:

In the 4-generation report created above, I had unclicked all of the check boxes on the right-hand side except for the "Exclude children" button, which was left checked.  The report above lists the burial fact, similar to what I did in Legacy Family Tree 7.5.

3)  The user can select which Facts to include by clicking on the "Items to Include" icon on the right-hand side (just below the "Ahnentafel Report Options"  heading:

I could also change the font size, font type, and font color by clicking on the "Fonts" icon in the "Ahnentafel Report Options" area.

4)  After changing the number of generations to 12, it took awhile to create this report:

The Ancestors List above includes the Burial Fact, and has 109 pages.

5)  I went back and eliminated the Burial Fact, and the Ancestor List report slimmed down to 100 pages.

6)  I really liked the idea of having the Sources listed for my ancestors' birth, marriage and death events (all the better to see which Events for which I do not have a Source Citation!), so I went back into the "Items to Include" and checked the "Include Sources" box.  The resulting report was 150 pages (first and last pages shown below):

There are 1,422 persons on this list (hand counted...) but only 841 source citations.  I have lots more work to do!!


Some comments about the information included and the formatting of the report:


*  The marriage line is included at the end of the husband's information (which is the classical "ancestor list" way)

*  The burial date and place is included in the list (if requested), but is separated from the person's information. [Update:  Russ commented that there is an option to include the burial information in the rest of the Person information.]  


*  I would like to see the capability to add the baptism date/place to the Ancestor List also.

*  The names are in Pedigree chart order, and skip the missing ancestors (which is the classical "ancestor list" way).

*  The Parents names of each person are not included on the list (which is not the classical "ancestor list" way). [Updated to reflect reality - my mistake!.  Thanks, Russ.  At least someone reads it...]

All in all, Family Tree Maker 2012 makes a very nice Ancestor List, with flexibility in the information to be included.  The user can save the list as an HTML, RTF, CSV or PDF file to their computer (using the "Share" button), or can Print the whole file or a range of pages using the "Print" icon on the "Ahnentafel Report Options" area.


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/creating-ancestor-list-ahnentafel-in_29.html


Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Checking Out "My Source Box" on FamilySearch.org

Sandy Amone on the Spittal Street blog highlighted a new feature called My Source Box on www.FamilySearch.org - see Sandy's post at http://spittalstreet.com/?p=4967 and the FamilySearch blog post for My Source Box at https://familysearch.org/blog/familysearch-featuremy-source-box/.

This sounded like the "next step" in adding source citations to the FamilySearch Family Tree, so I wondered how it worked.  The FamilySearch blog post describes the process, and the comments highlight some of the problems encountered so far.

Here is my look at it:

1)  I signed into FamilySearch.org with my FREE account (that is a necessity to use My Source Box or the FamilySearch Family Tree).  Then I searched the FamilySearch Historical Collections for Isaac Seaver, born in 1823-1824 (I used an "exact" search) and the results page appeared:

2)  I clicked on the top search result for Isaac Seaver in the 1900 Census and the result summary page appeared:

Up in the right hand corner of the screen above is a link to "My Source Box" and running your mouse over it shows two morel inks - "Add to My Source Box" and "Go to My Source Box."

3)  I clicked on the "Add to My Source Box" link and a popup window appeared:

The popup window is headed "Added to My Source Box" and shows the source text that will be added.  I clicked on the "OK" button and the source was added.  The source text for this record is:

"United States Census, 1900," Isaac Seaver, Leominster town (southeast quarter), Worcester, Massachusetts

4)  I went through the list of search result matches and added sources for seven results to My Source Box.  Then I clicked on the "Go to My Source Box" link and saw all of my sources that I had added:

5)  I clicked on several of those on the list and was able to see more information for these sources - including the URL and the complete citation:

For the 1900 U.S. Census record above, the URL was:

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M9BQ-JB3

The citation was:

"United States Census, 1900," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M9BQ-JB3 : accessed 29 May 2012), Isaac Seaver, Leominster town (southeast quarter), Worcester, Massachusetts.

While that source citation is not exactly Evidence! Explained quality (e.g., the order of the elements, the ED, page, dwelling, family numbers, the NARA microfilm publication/roll, the FHL microfilm number), it does lead to the summary of the census record, which leads to the census record image. It may be "good enough" for some researchers. The FamilySearch blog post indicates that the source citation can be edited or removed, so I may try that. The blog post also notes that source citations can be added by typing into a source citation form (I actually did that previously for Isaac's birth certificate within the FS Family Tree, and it is included in My Source Box).

Now that I have captured some of the sources that pertain to Isaac Seaver (1823-1901), I need to figure out how to add them to Isaac Seaver in the FamilySearch Family Tree. I'll report on that process soon!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/checking-out-my-source-box-on.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday's Tip - Search Cemetery Records in Billion Graves Index

This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Use the Billion Graves (www.billiongraves.com) website to find cemetery records and photographs.

The Billion Graves website says:

"We aim to provide an expansive family history database for records and images from the world’s cemeteries, all tagged with GPS locations. Our database is growing every day. We are gathering headstones from new countries all the time. Our goal is to collect one billion graves, and we can do it with your help."


and:


"Help us make family history more accessible to everyone. Take the BillionGraves.com iPhone/Android app with you when you go to your local cemetery and contribute to the grave image database. Even if you don’t have the gadgets required to collect images for BillionGraves, you can still help build the database by transcribing the images so anyone, anywhere, can find ancestors’ graves while in their own home."


The web page for Billion Graves has a basic search box.  I put "Seaver" in the Last Name field and received 185 matches (but only 23 were "exact"):

Clicking on one of the entries reveals the information available for that person.  The screen below shows the search results and the gravestone for the person (on the "Image" tab):

The "Map" tab shows the satellite view of the cemetery and the location of the gravestone (from the GPS data on the camera):

The Billion Graves website does not list how many records have been uploaded and are searchable to date. However, the searchable Billion Graves Index database on FamilySearch.org has over 980,000 entries, with links to the image and map on the Billion Graves website.  It showed only 14 "exact" matches for "Seaver," so the indexed entries on FamilySearch.org lags the website (which is to be expected).

While the Billion Graves site does not have nearly the number of entries as the more established Find-a-Grave website (www.findagrave.com), it certainly has come a long way in a short time.  The lofty goal of a billion graves does not seem far-fetched, although it may take decades to achieve.  The mobile app makes it very easy to add content to the site.

If you want to contribute gravestone photographs to the website using your smart phone or tablet camera, you can register at the site and download the app for your Apple or Android device.  Then it's a matter of going to the cemetery, using the app and uploading the photos to the site.  Billlion Graves users will ltranscribe the records and the images and information will appear on the Billion Graves website.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/tuesdays-tips-search-cemetery-records.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Creating an Ancestor List ("Ahnentafel") in Legacy Family Tree 7.5

In response to my Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post, I received an email question from a reader who asked "How do I make an Ahnentafel using my genealogy software?"  It struck me that perhaps some readers do not know what an "ahnentafel" is...so I'll show how my three genealogy software programs create one.

Each program does this differently, with somewhat different results, so I'll go through Legacy Family Tree 7.5, Family Tree Maker 2012 and RootsMagic 5 in a series of posts.

Note that I like to use the term "Ancestor List" rather than "Ahnentafel" for this list, since it is really not a "Name Table."  For this "Ancestor List," I want ONLY the ancestor name, birth date and place, death date and place, and marriage date and place.  For me, a printed "Ancestor List" is much easier to use than a series of linked and printed pedigree charts.

1)  In Legacy Family Tree 7.5, with myself highlighted on the Legacy Family View, I clicked on the "Reports" button in the Menu icon row:

2)  In the screen above, the "Books and Other" window opened, and I want to select the "Ancestors" button from the menu in order to make my Ancestor List.  That opens the "Ancestor Book" window:

There are five tabs (Options, Page Layout, Heading Layout, Wording 1 and Wording 2) and three buttons at the bottom of the window (Index Options, Report Options and Title Page).  The Options tab is shown above.

On the Options tab, I made the number of Generations = 12.  I unchecked everything else for this "Ancestor List" report.

3)  I clicked the "Index Options" button and unchecked every box in the two tabs (Name Index), Location Index):

I clicked "OK" and was back to the "Ancestor Book" window.

4)  I clicked on the "Report Options" button and there are eight tabs (Include, format, Privacy, Sources, Pictures, Page Setup, Header/Footer, and Fonts).   I went through each of them and unchecked every box.

On the "Include" tab, I checked the "Marriage Information" box:

Note that I left the "Child-parent relationships" and "Children of each spouse" boxes unchecked since I don't want a list of the children of each ancestral family.  I also left "Print source citations" unchecked for this list.

On the "Format" tab, I checked the "Don't include duplicate lines."

5)  I clicked on the "close" button for the "Report Options" window and was back to the "Ancestor Book" window.  I clicked on the "Preview" button (upper right-hand corner) and a 120 page Ancestor List was created.  Here is page 1:

And page 2 (which starts the actual Ancestor List):

Based on the parameters I set, I received the names, parents names, birth dates/places, death dates/places and marriage dates/places for each of my ancestors in the 12 generations requested.

7)  When I first tried this, I left the "Don't include duplicate lines" box on the "Format" tab of the "Report Options" window unchecked.  I received an error message after 11 pages, and received a message that an individual had been processed 3 times" and that "You might be in an endless loop:"

I clicked on "Continue processing" and received several more of these messages, and finally cancelled the report.  Later, I went back and increased the number of allowable duplicates to 5, and a 124 page report was created.  I have several duplicate lines back in the 17th century.

Some format things that I noted about the "Ancestor List" Report:

*  The Cover Page is really for a book - I would like to have the option to eliminate it (perhaps I couldn't find that option?). [Update:  Scratch this complaint:  Linda commented that I could uncheck the "Title Page" box on the "Ancestor Book" window.  Thanks!]

*  The months are three-letter abbreviations rather than the full spelling. [Update:  Scratch this complaint ... a user can change this in Options > Customize > Dates and check the Full month name box]

*  The marriage line is included for both spouses in a marriage.

*  The burial date and place is included in the list.  I like that (but it's not "classical."  I also would like the baptism date/place capability also).

*  The names are in Pedigree chart order, and skip the missing ancestors.

*  The Parents names of each person are included on the list (I saw no way to not include them).

*  I would like to see the capability to list Sources for the Events as Footnotes or Endnotes.

All in all, Legacy Family Tree makes a very nice Ancestor List, although it is not exactly what I wanted (the additions are the burial data, Parent's names and one marriage line).  The user can save the list as an HTML, RTF or PDF file to their computer, or can Print the whole file or a range of pages using the radio buttons on the "Ancestor Book" window or on the "Preview" page.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/creating-ancestor-list-ahnentafel-in.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Samples of Essential Reports for Genealogists

I was really disappointed that I didn't get to go to the National Genealogical Society 2012 conference in early May to see my geneablogging colleagues, the exhibit hall and vendors, and some of the conference presentations.  However, we did a genealogy cruise instead.

One of the presentations that I really wanted to see was "Information Overload? Effective Project Planning, Research, data Management & Analysis" by Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA.

When I saw that title, my first thought was "What?  In one hour?  Wow!"  I wish I had been there!  Oh, well - I'll try to catch it if it is presented again.  I did find several mentions and short summaries online in:

*  Laura Cosgrove Lorenzano:  Sentimental Sunday - NGS2012 and Family

*  Amanda E. Perrine:  NGS 2012: Final Day

*  Beirne Konarski:  Information Overload? Effective Project Planning, Research, Data Management & Analysis #ngs2012

Amanda noted in her blog post that Elizabeth had put several supporting documents from this presentation on the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) website - at http://www.apgen.org/resources/worksamples.html.  So I toddled over there and read the page carefully.

There were links to three PDF files for:

*   Record Analysis & Research Plan: Samuel Witter, 17th U.S. Infantry, War of 1812 Enlistment Record: An Analysis

*  Research Report: Samuel Witter (1787–1876) and the War of 1812 (an execution of the plan

*   Research Notes: Samuel Witter (1787–1876): Research Notes (reflecting all work & findings to date).

I spent a very pleasant two hours reading these files over the weekend...and came away really impressed (honestly, awestruck!) by the work product shown there, which apparently is from Elizabeth's own family history research.  One of the major takeaways for me was the list of War of 1812 record resources that were listed in the Research Report!  

Another major takeaway for me was that Elizabeth apparently used RootsMagic 5 software to generate the Research Notes report (and probably edited the report afterward).  That got me to wondering where the Research Notes were in RootsMagic 5 - I used the Help link to find them - and I will soon report on my experiences creating the Research Notes Report in another blog post.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/samples-of-essential-reports-for.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Obituaries for Charles Auble (1849-1916)

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own 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." 

Newspaper obituaries are often the only "window" to every day events in a person's life, other than vital records, military records, land records, probate records, etc.

My great-grandfather, Charles Auble (1849-1916) left no personal papers and my grandmother and mother didn't talk about him much, other than to say that he was a painter and a drun,k who died three months after falling down the stairs in their home. 

These two newspaper articles provide some glimpses into Charlie's professional life:

1)  From the San Diego Union newspaper, dated 25 March 1916, page 12 (accessed on www.GenealogyBank.com):


This article reads:

" Charles Auble, Old Time Painter, Dead

"Departed Brother Leaves Widow and Daughter to Mourn Departure -- Funeral Will Be Saturday Afternoon

"Charles Auble, an old time member of the Painter's Union, died Thursday night at his home, 767 Fourteenth street. He leaves a widow, Georgia, one daughter, Emily, to mourn his departure.

"Brother Auble has been a member of the Painter's union for many years, coming to San Diego from Chicago about five years ago, and immediately affiliating with local No. 333 in San Diego.

"Funeral services will be held at the Bradley & Woolman chapel at 2 o'clock Saturday afternoon, interment being in Greenwood cemetery. All members of Painter's union and friends are requested to be present."

This article may have been clipped from the labor newspaper, The Labor Leader, in San Diego, or from the San Diego Union. It reads:

"Honor the Memory of Departed Brother

"Painters' Union No. 333, Adopt Resolutions of Condolence in Memory of Charles Aubell -- Was Old and Honored Member

"A committee of Painters' Union No. 333 submitted the following resolutions in honor of the memory of Charles Aubell, one of the old and honored members of the Painters' union, who died March 23, and were adopted at the meeting of the Painters' union Monday night.

" 'To the Officers and Members Local Union No. 333

" 'Your committee on resolutions of condolence on the death of our late brother, Charles Aubell, beg leave to submit the following:

" 'Whereas, Nature's law requires that we, each and every one of us, sooner or later, go into transition, commonly known as and called death, thereby relieving us of all earthly cares and burdens we might have been carrying, leaving family and friends to mourn our passing, in accordance with the degree in which we were environed, and

" 'Whereas, In accordance with that inexorable law, the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of America have suffered a loss from their ranks and our late honored and esteemed Brother Aubell is no more. While we feel a very keen sadness at our loss, we can but realize that the pain is but a disappointment compared to the real sorrow that must necessarily accompany the great void in the hearts of his helpmate and family in the vicissitude of life, caused by the removal from their midst of the husband and father. Therefore, be it

" 'Resolved, By Local No. 333 of the B. of P., D. and P. of A., that we extend to the bereft family of our late brother, Charles Aubell, an expression of that sincere sympathy which we each and every one feel in this their seemingly darkest hour and sorrow of their lives, with an assurance of our best offices in every way possible in alleviating the pain, and be it further

" 'Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be furnished the family of the deceased, that they be published in The Labor Leader, and be made a part of our minutes.

" ' G.W. Myers

Arthur H. Dutton

H.M. Hubbard

'Committee

" 'San Diego, Cal., April 3, 1916' "

I learned several things from these articles - that Charlie was a member of the local Painters' Union in San Diego, that he came from Chicago to San Diego five years before his death, the address of their home in San Diego, the funeral home that managed the funeral, and the planned place of his burial. While the obituary says he was to be buried at Greenwood Cemetery, he is actually buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego, and his plot does not have a gravestone.

There is nothing in the articles about the cause of death, or anything about Charlie's work as a painter. There are no great words of praise for his character, intellect or contributions to society so often found in printed tributes in newspapers.

The Painters' Union couldn't even get the spelling of his last name right! He really wasn't that old - age 66 at death, and how "honored" could he be after only five years of living in San Diego?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/amanuensis-monday-obituaries-for.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Memorial Day - Honoring Their Service

America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)

1. My country,' tis of thee,

sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;

land where my fathers died,

land of the pilgrims' pride,

from every mountainside let freedom ring!

....

2. My native country, thee,

land of the noble free, thy name I love;

I love thy rocks and rills,

thy woods and templed hills;

my heart with rapture thrills, like that above

.....

3. Let music swell the breeze,

and ring from all the trees sweet freedom's song;

let mortal tongues awake;

let all that breathe partake;

let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong

......
4. Our fathers' God, to thee,

author of liberty, to thee we sing;

long may our land be bright

with freedom's holy light;

protect us by thy might, great God, our King.

America the Beautiful

1. O beautiful for spacious skies,

for amber waves of grain;

for purple mountain majesties

above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee,

and crown thy good with brotherhood

from sea to shining sea.
.....
2. O beautiful for heroes proved

in liberating strife,

who more than self their country loved,

and mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine,

till all success be nobleness,

and every gain divine

......
3. O beautiful for patriot dream

that sees beyond the years

thine alabaster cities gleam,

undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

confirm thy soul in self-control,

thy liberty in law.
-----------------------------------------------------

Click the links to see the lyrics and hear the songs.

Say a prayer, shed a tear, and be very grateful to those who have served our country with honor and sacrifice.

Here are mine:  Honoring my Ancestors who served.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/memorial-day-honoring-their-service.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

CVGS Program on Wednesday, 30 May: "Genealogy in the Cloud"

 MAY 30th  PROGRAM MEETING

from 12 Noon to 2 p.m.

at Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) in the Auditorium

“Genealogy in the Cloud” 

Panel:  John Finch, Gary Brock, Shirley Becker, Randy Seaver

The May program meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society will be a panel discussion of doing genealogy research, organization, data storage and communication in the “Cloud.”         

“Cloud computing” includes using Internet-based programs and services instead of programs based on your desktop or laptop computer.  Typical genealogy applications include email, document sharing, online family trees,  information resources, data backup and storage, social media, productivity aids, and mobile devices.  

The topics to be discussed in some detail with John Finch acting as the Moderator are:

• Gary Brock:  What is the Cloud, why do I need it, and how do I use it?
• Shirley Becker:  Using Dropbox for Data Backup and Storage.
• Randy Seaver:  Using Mobile Devices for Genealogy

After the three presentations, the panel will answer questions from the Moderator and the audience.  

The panelists and moderator are long-time CVGS members and former Presidents of the society.

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 20 to 26 May 2012

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:   


*  GenealogyBank: What are your thoughts, DearREADERS? and That GenealogyBank Meeting: My Report by Pat Richley-Erickson on the DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog.  Pat reviews why she likes GenealogyBank, and offers suggestions to improve the site, then reports on the meeting.  Well done!


*  "Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr." - DNA in the 10th episode by CeCe Moore on the Your Genetic Genealogist blog.  Another excellent summary of the DNA results found on this series - this time for Michelle.Rodriguez, Adrian Grenier and Linda Chavez.


*  A Galvanized Matross from the Mid-Atlantic Region has a Blast at Dighton by Tim Abbott on the Walking the Berkshires blog.  Tim shares his experiences, and many pictures, from his latest Revolutionary War re-enacting adventure.  Well done!


*  What Software Do I Use the Most? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  James is the most  "tuned-in" person I know, and he shares his software list (not just genealogy) with us.


*  Elizabeth Warren: Gunn-Crawford Marriage License Controversy and Elizabeth Warren's Ancestry - Part 1 by CC on  The Thoughts of Polly's Granddaughter blog.  These posts dissect the available information about Senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren's claimed Cherokee ancestry and compares it to a known Cherokee ancestry.


*  What is Forensic Genealogy? by Michael Hait on the Planting the Seed blog.  Michael interviews Leslie Lawson, President of the Council for Advancement of Forensic Genealogy.


*  Response to "What is Forensic Genealogy?" by Barbara Mathews on The Demanding Genealogist blog.  Barbara asks Melinde Lutz Byrne and Colleen Fitzpatrick the same questions, and gets different answers.


*  How Crazy is too crazy to make a will? by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog.  Judy gets interesting email questions ... and writes great blogp osts about them.  A keeper.


Several genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week, including:   


*  Monday Morning Mentions by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog.


*  Monday Recap for May 21, 2012 by Amanda on the Geni.com blog.


*  Follow Friday: This Week's Favorite Finds by Jen on the Climbing My Family Tree blog.


*  Follow Friday - May 25th 2012 by Ginger R. Smith on the Genealogy by Ginger's Blog.


*  Genealogy News Corral, May 21-25 by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.


*  Friday Night Finds - 05/25/12 (A Day Late) by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog.


*  Across My Desk: 26 May 2012 by Pat Richley-Erickson on DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog.


I encourage readers 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 1200 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/best-of-genea-blogs-20-to-26-may-2012.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver