CategoriesHistoryLinksNon-Genealogy

Permanent Record

A few weeks back, I ran across a link on BoingBoing to an article on Slate.com. I saw that it mentioned old documents and since I’m a sucker for old documents, I gave it a read. If you’re also a fan of old documents, especially more interesting ones, than you’ll love this series of articles on a collection of old report cards and how the author used them to not only tell the history of these people, but to even connect them back to their descendants.

Four hundred little dramas, all sketched out on cardstock. Marie’s report card comes from a large batch of old Manhattan Trade School student records that I stumbled upon more than a decade ago and have been obsessed with ever since. I’ve spent a good chunk of my life poking around antiques shops, yard sales, and abandoned buildings, but these report cards are by far the most evocative, most compelling, and most addictive artifacts I’ve ever come across.

This sounds like something I would do if I ever ran across a batch of old documents. I’ve learned in the last decade of family research that sometimes you can find the most compelling information in your non-standard documents. “Non-standard” being something other than things like census or vital records. Not only do these records give you more information, sometimes they tell you stories. I personally find that stories make your ancestors seem more alive. More than just names and dates.

To anyone interested in history and even family history, I recommend reading his articles. He wrote (as of right now) 5 articles relating to these documents, so make sure you have some time.

 

 

 

 

 

CategoriesLinksTechnology

Genealogy Habits, Attitudes and Origins Survey

I found a link to this over at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings website. It’s a link a survey about people’s genealogy habits, attitudes and origins. According to the survey page, they plan to share the results with libraries, family history organizations or societies at no cost.

I took the survey earlier and it was well-done. I agree with Randy when he says that it’s one of the best he has seen. It should take no longer than 15-20 minutes.

Use this link to visit the survey: Family History Survey

CategoriesFollow FridayLinks

Follow Friday

Here are some useful posts I’ve read this week.

  • Elyse at Elyse’s Genealogy Blog talks about “Who Do You Think You Are?” coming on NBC in March and how important it is to get the word out.
  • A guest post over at Mountain Genealogists talks about “Preservation and Interpretation of our Ancestor Stories.”
  • At Digging Up Stones there is a good post about finally finding that document or piece of information you’ve been looking for. I know I’ve been there.
  • Over at Stories of My Ancestors, they post about reaching outside of the box when looking for those elusive ancestors. A good idea for any researcher.
CategoriesFollow FridayLinks

Follow Friday

Here are some interesting blog posts that I’ve run across for this week.

  • Abba-Dad at I Dream of Genea(logy) posts Genealogy – What’s the Point? In the post he wonders why people do genealogy. What keeps them going? After reading it, I see two sections that really drive me. “Where do I come from? How did I get here? What chain of coincidences and historical events came together to give me this life?” and “If you can place one of your ancestors in a significant historical event, then you have a personal connection to it.” What drives you?
  • Elyse over at Elyse’s Genealogy Blog posts a good overview about organizing your mountain of collected papers. As Genealogists, you know how much paper you collect. It’s a three-post series starting with the initial step of getting everything together. Organizing the Paper Mountain (Part 1). Feel free to follow on to Part 2 and Part 3.
  • A fairly new blog, Geneapprentice, has recently popped up. Sarah is blogging about her experience working towards her certificate from the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. I know it’s crossed my mind to get certified, so it’s a good read if you’re thinking about it.
  • NBC is premiering the American version of Who Do You Think You Are? starting March 5, after the Olympics. I am a big fan of the show having watched a few of the British versions from BBC. I enjoy the way they incorporate the personal genealogy of a celebrity with world historical events. History and Genealogy buffs will love the show. I really hope it survives America’s TV landscape (and NBC) like the BBC version has. They’ve just completed Season 7.
CategoriesFollow FridayLinksTips & Tricks

Follow Friday

I thought I would recognize some helpful posts by the genealogy blogging community.

Creative Gene

Jasia at Creative Gene has a very good writeup on an extremely helpful (depends on your ancestry, I guess) online dictionary that translates from Polish to English and vice versa. It’s not only online, but it’s completely free. She does a good job explaining why this dictionary is as helpful as it is. I learned a bit about the Polish language and I also used it to help another Zalewski researcher with some documents he had that were written in Polish. Check out her I Won’t Be Going Bald Anytime Soon! post.

The Genetic Genealogist

Blaine has a good Q&A post up on his site explaining your two “family trees.” He talks about the differences between your Genealogical Tree and your Genetic Tree and how they each may help you find information about the other one. Read his Q&A: Everyone Has Two Family Trees ““ A Genealogical Tree and a Genetic Tree post.

Kick-Ass Genealogy

Besides the in-your-face blog name, Katrina has a good post on how to deal with roadblocks when interviewing relatives. Sometimes the interviewee may dodge or block a question you ask. Did Great Aunt Erma have more children? Was Uncle Jerry a wild child of the 60s? Read over this post to help you with this issue. Dealing with Roadblocks When Interviewing Relatives

Olive Tree Genealogy

Over at Olive Tree  Genealogy, there is a great start to a series of 12 posts looking at some of the less obvious resources in finding information on your ancestors. I know I’ll be keeping an eye on this, since I feel like I’ve exhausted some of the normal resources on some of my lines. The first post is about medical records and how these may be helpful in your research. Check it out at 12 Months of Finding Ancestors: Medical Records (Part 1 of a 12 Part Series)

I hope these posts will be as helpful to you as they were to me.

CategoriesLinks

Links

Today’s Links

  • Family Link -It’s like Facebook mixed with Genealogy. It’s a social-networking type site that allows you to share/connect/communicate with other genealogists researching in your area, in your family, etc. It’s brand-new, but it looks to have a lot of potential. Help it out by signing up, I did. My profile.
  • Genealogy Guys Podcast – The first Genealogy-based podcast that I actually enjoy listening to. They talk about current Genealogy information in an easy-to-digest way. I’ve found a few helpful sites and information already and have only listened to two podcasts.
  • Ancestry Press – A new venture by Ancestry.com that allows you to print out wonderful books based on your family tree or individuals in your tree. I guess it’s open to anyone with an Ancestry subscription or even just an account.
CategoriesLinks

Links

Some nice links for today:

  • Shorpy – a photo blog about what life a hundred years ago was like: How people looked and what they did for a living, back when not having a job usually meant not eating.
  • Technology Creates Extreme Genealogists – Internet genealogy can be extremely productive, agreed Dick Eastman, who writes an online genealogy newsletter. But it depends greatly on where your ancestors came from.
  • Geni.com – Everyone’s Related
CategoriesLinks

Today’s Links

Here are some helpful links that I’ve used in the past.

  • Zeeuws Archief – From their site, “The Zeeuws Archief [Zeeland Archives] is the principal archive for Zeeland, the most southwesterly province of The Netherlands, and for the municipalities of Middelburg and Veere. The Zeeuws Archief, the treasure house of Zeeland’s history, holds a wealth of information about Zeeland in general and about the municipalities of Middelburg and Veere in particular. Information for a family tree, but also for a wide range of historical research.” Loads and loads of useful information if you’re family hails from this area in the Netherlands.
  • Books We Own – “..is a list of resources owned/accessed by individuals who are willing to look up genealogical information and e-mail or snail mail it to others who request it. This is a free service” Very helpful if you can find the correct book. It sometimes contains priceless information.
  • Surname Helper – A very helpful surname search engine, works well with those multi-spelled names out there.
CategoriesGenetic GenealogyLinksTips & Tricks

Interesting Links

Here are some interesting genealogy links for today. I’ll try to do this every few days.

Stay tuned for more interesting links!