May 2013

Ruth’s Recommendations

This is another long list of favourites. I have been busy getting ready for the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference this weekend. Happy reading everyone.

Irish Genealogy News has several posts of interest. The first is “Too many histories…” Hedge School debate online.” It is the latest podcast from the Hedge School.

The next post is “More Church of Ireland transcriptions go online.” This is the latest release to the Anglican Record Project. The last post is “So what? So plenty!” which is about the Irish Government’s intention to put the civil registration indexes online.

The British GENES blog also has several posts of interest. The first is “Republic of Ireland’s GRO indexes to go online at IrishGenealogy.ie” The next is “1895 Scottish Valuation Roll now online.” The last post is “Scottish Online Catalogue Project” which is going to be a wonderful resource for people researching Scotland.

Chris’ other blog is Scotland: Walking in Eternity and here he had a post called “The Tourist’s Matrimonial Guide Through Scotland.” This is a wonderful post and provides a warning to tourists about Scottish marriage customs.

The “Are My Roots Showing?” blog has a couple of good posts. The first is “Evidentia and Mastering Genealogical Proof” where she looks at how the program Evidentia has been adapting to the release of Thomas W. Jones’ book “Mastering Genealogical Proof.” The second post is “My Digital Filing System for Genealogy (Windows).” This came about via the new group on Facebook called “The Organized Genealogist.” I think we are all looking for ways to organize our collections and doing it right the first time.

Dick Eastman had a post called “Save Library & Archives Canada: How Ordinary Citizens can Make an Impact.” If you want to make an impact then check this out.

The Genealogy Canada blog has a post called “Want to track down descendants of immigrants who were on the Empress of Ireland.” If you had people on the Empress of Ireland when it went down in the St. Lawrence River on 29 May 1914 then you need to read this post.

John Grenham’s has a column entitled “Genealogy in Time” where he looks at the ranking system of genealogy websites. He starts with Genealogy in Time which is a Canadian website and says it is ranked as the fifth largest family history website in the world.

GeneaPress announces that “Southern California Genealogy Jamboree: Free Live-Streamed Sessions Announced.” Sign up now to attend the free live streamed sessions from Jamboree.

The Genealogy’s Star blog had a post called “2,000,000,000th Holding Record goes into WorldCat.org.” If you haven’t used WorldCat.org then you need to go and check it out.

The Anglo-Celtic Connections blog had an interested post called “The First 20 Hours – How to Learn Anything.” It is an interesting video.

The last blog post is from a blog I follow not because of genealogy but because of a general interest. They had a post this week that crossed general interest with genealogy. The post entitled “Simply Divine” is about St. Werburgh’s Church in Dublin. This is of interest to me because in the late 1700s my family worshiped there and one collateral ancestor is buried there. I enjoyed the brief history but what really caught my attention was the photographic essay of the church. The last time I was in Dublin the church was closed so I never got to go inside. This helps make up for a missed opportunity but it also makes me more intent on getting in to see it the next time I am in Dublin.

What were your favourite blog posts?

Let me know in the comments below.

Other bloggers that write their own lists are:

Jana’s Genealogy and Family History Blog

Genealogy Insider – Genealogy News Corral

©2013 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved

FGS Ambassador Blogging Prompt – Why Genealogy Conferences?

Conferences are fantastic and everyone should attend at least one a year. I know sometimes it is difficult to get to them because of distance and the cost involved. These days we can get a lot of information from the conference on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and sometimes live streaming.

The FGS Conference this year is in Fort Wayne Indiana which has the Allen County Public Library. It is is one of the largest genealogy libraries around. I was able to attend the conference the last time it was in Fort Wayne and got to research at the APCL for the first time. You wouldn’t believe all the research possibilities!

Genealogy conferences provide a lot of networking opportunities and the chance to meet new people. I always meet at least five new people at every conference I attend. The fun part is meeting the bloggers I follow on a regular basis in person. Putting a name to the face and having a nice conversation about genealogy without the noticeable glaze over that you get from family and friends who aren’t interested in your passion.

Besides being able to do some research at the ACPL the lectures offered by FGS this year are great. I am not representing a society but I still find the society lecture series informative. This year I am looking at “Creating Master Databases from Local Genealogical Resources” and “Creating a Virtual Cemetery Project.”

The methodology stream holds a lot of interest for me as well. This year I would like to learn more about DNA. Of course you always want to see speakers like Elizabeth Shown Mills and Thomas W. Jones not to mention Paul Milner. Since I am from Canada I am interested in lectures on the Border States such as Ohio, New York and Michigan. It can also be the lure of a great story even if I have no interest in the area of research.

All these are on offer this year at the FGS Conference in Fort Wayne Indiana. Have you registered yet? Why not go in and see what is available on the program schedule. Don’t forget to start working on your research plan for the ACPL.

See you in Fort Wayne!

©2013 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved