Welcome to my first Inspiring Genealogy Blogs post. This series will be me sharing posts from others with you. They will be posts that I find inspiring, posts that will make you think, and posts that are just way cool.
I do spend a lot of time reading blog posts, which helps me keep up with the latest news, products and what’s happening in general in the world of genealogy. Those who follow me on Twitter, and to some extent Google+, would know that I do like to share with you the interesting things I read. Anyway as there is still a large portion of the world who isn’t of Twitter or Google+, I thought I’d find a few of my fav’s each month and share them with you here.
History All Done? What’s Your Number?
Crista’s post on What is your Genealogy Number is one that will certainly get you thinking, and possibly opening up your tree to work our what is YOUR number. She start off by saying how she cringe’s when she hear’s when someone says their genealogy is “all done”, I have to agree with this one. Anyway if we all look at our tree there are still hundreds (if not thousands) of people left to discover in our own trees, never mind all the aunts, uncles, and cousins on the rest of the family tree. Read on to see how Crista get’s her Genealogy number … read more
When is a Source Not a Source?
I admit that is was the title of this post got me reading it. I mean, we’re all meant to cite our sources, so what does it mean “when a source is not a source?”. James tells us of a mistake he made when starting his research, and how we can avoid it … read more
A Picture (or Symbol) Could be Worth a Thousand Words
As a genealogists, Melanie can’t help but wonder when viewing tombstones what kind of a person the deceased was, what they did for a living, what their family life was like and that sort of thing. Inscriptions and symbols carved on headstones, even the placement of a person’s grave within the cemetery can tell us something about them, about a person’s ideals or character, as well as containing important genealogical information. Many tombstones contain various symbols, and of course they got her thinking about their meaning. Click here to read more
How to Give Back to the Genealogy Community
Think back to when you took you first started your research journey. Did you take baby steps or did you just leap in? Do you remember how overwhelming it was, how daunting, and how exciting (all at the same time of course), as well as how helpful various people were and so-on. Thomas MacEntee writes here about how to give back to the genealogy community, as well as giving reasons as to ‘why’ you might want to. Interested … read more
Million Short: A Different Kind of Search Engine
We’re used to using Google, and some of us may use Mocavo to search for our family history, but now there is a third way do searches online for your relis. It is called Million Short, and derives its name from from the fact that this search engine basically ignores the 1 million most popular websites on the internet. Instead, it focuses on less-common websites. Basically, it specialises in what are known as long-tail searches, which focusses on the obscure and the uncommon. And many genealogy records are obscure. Sounds interesting … read more
The Jennings Family Tree found on Waiheke
You might be wondering why I’m sharing a post about a family tree in New Zealand with you, but bear with me this is amazing. A family tree stretching 500 years has been unearthed in the attic of a Waiheke Island, NZ home. The poster-sized document covers the family history of David Jennings who emigrated from England to Nelson in 1849. It was given to Waiheke Library for safekeeping and its owner is now being sought. Seonaid Lewis, who is the family history librarian from Auckland Central Libraries’ Research Centre, says the find is a remarkable example of genealogical research that someone has spent considerable time preparing. “You might expect to find such a comprehensive family tree in England so it is ‘pure gold’ to find a piece of work like this in an attic in New Zealand” … read more
Thank you to the bloggers who have written the posts above. You have certainly got my interest, and I hope you don’t mind me sharing your wonderful posts with our readers.
So here’s to reading more blog posts, and being continually inspired by many I read.
