Are YOU the black sheep in your family?
If so, you’re in good company!
Or are you the lone sane person in a family tree overrun with crazed squirrels?
I found an interesting article at Blog Some Genealogy . Take a look, and then I’ll pose a challenge–find a politician that you’re related to! Personally I am related to George W (and the rest of his family) thru a G-G-G Aunt (or something–I’m not looking at the page right this second) Cora Neff Bush–she married into the Bush family. Plus I’m related to ole T.J himself–so that’s where the red hair comes from!
Of course, we’re all descended from Noah–unless A.B.C had it right when they put water-pirates in that made-for-t.v special a few years back. And on that same note–we’re all descended from Adam–unless you go for the whole alien photocopy thing. So if we go back far enough–and side-step the circular family trees (you know, the ones plagued with the crazed squirrels) I’m sure we’d find lots of familiar names.
Oh, that so reminds me—when my cousin and I were roomies in college we had a friend J.C. J.C was cool in his own way–a bit eccentric, but nothing really worrying. well, nothing that required counseling. But cuz’ had been working on her FH at the time and noticed that J.C’s last name was in a lot of her research.
From the same state that he was from.
And the same county!!
Turns out they were not too distant of cousins!!
Yet more proof that U of C, Provo is a small, small world unto itself!
(and another reason that it was good that the friendship never went any farther!!)
J.C–you know we love you!!
And cuz–you KNOW who I’m referring to and I know you’re laughing your self silly!
Popularity: 58% [?]
Official State Archives for All 50 States of the U.S.
Here is a nice listing of the Official State Archives for all 50 states of the U.S. and 3 territories This listing includes the official department name, address, telephone numberr and web site address. One can research and find at these sites documents such as public records, registered maps, books, papers, directories, land records, and other writings and records which appertain to the political history and past administration of the state government. Typically, these are repositories for the state’s permanent governmental records as well as other materials documenting the state’s history. These types of items can help you find leads and provide more understanding when researching your ancestors and family history.
| Alabama Department of Archives and History 624 Washington Avenue P.O. Box 300100Montgomery, AL 36130-0100 Tel: 334-242-4435 www.archives.state.al.us/index.html |
Alaska Division of Libraries, Archives, and Museums 141 Willoughby AvenueJuneau, AK 99801-1720 Tel: 907-465-2270 www.archives.state.ak.us |
Arizona Department of Library, Archives, and Public Records 1700 West WashingtonRoom 442, State Capitol Phoenix, AZ 85007 Tel: 602-542-4159 www.lib.az.us/archives |
Popularity: 72% [?]
31 Internet Genealogy Lessons
To complement Jeff’s post today on Beginners
Guide to Genealogy, here are a total of 31 genealogy lessons for both beginner
and intermediate genealogists These genealogy tutorial lessons will help you in your
important work of researching, finding, and documenting your family tree and family
history, and are provided by Genealogy.com. The beginning lessons show you
how to find information online and where to start looking, while the intermediate
lessons dive deeper into genealogy research and show you things such as conducting
online research, writing your family history, cemetery records, digital photographs,
genealogy CDs, and organizing your online research. Have fun with these and good luck
with your family history research!
Beginning
Internet Genealogy: Getting Started on the Net
- Lesson 1: Usenet Newsgroups
- Lesson 2:
Creating Effective Queries - Lesson 3:
Online Reference Sites - Lesson 4:
Genealogy Data Online - Lesson 5:
Using Newspapers for Research - Lesson 6:
Libraries in the Digital Age - Lesson 7: Genealogy
Files Online - Lesson 8: Conducting
an Oral History - Lesson 9: GEDCOM Mysteries
Revealed - Lesson 10: Geographic
Tools and Resources - Lesson 11: Finding
People Online - Lesson 12: Armchair
Travel for Genealogists - Lesson 13: Search
Engines — Sorting Through the Web - Lesson 14: Organization
is the Key! - Lesson 15: Internet
Genealogy Chat via IRC - Lesson 16: Historical
Timelines and Resources
Intermediate Internet
Genealogy: Powerful Tools for Internet Research
- Lesson 1: Help from
Societies - Lesson 2: Genograms
and Family Medical Histories - Lesson 3: Conducting
Online Research - Lesson 4: Genealogy
Files Online - Lesson 5: The Mechanics
of Writing Your Family History, Part 1 - Lesson 6: The Mechanics
of Writing Your Family History, Part 2 - Lesson 7: The Mechanics
of Writing Your Family History, Part 3 - Lesson 8: Create Your
Own Genealogy Mailing List - Lesson 9: Cemetery
Records: Online and Off-line Research Tips and Techniques - Lesson 10: Software?:
Tips for Finding the Right Genealogy Program - Lesson 11: Genealogy
CD-ROM Basics - Lesson 12: Does This
Look Infected: Keeping Your Genealogy (and Other) Data Safe - Lesson 13: Digital
Photographs: Enhancing Your Online and Off-line Research - Lesson 14: Genealogy
CDs: Compiled Genealogies on CD-ROM - Lesson 15: Internet:
Organizing Your Online Research
Popularity: 100% [?]
Beginners Guide to Genealogy
For those of you who are just now starting to work on your genealogy, spoken-for.org has
created a great beginners guide called: “Genealogy
101: Starting Out“. The article goes through the basics of how to start by talking
to your relatives, gathering what you have, and deciding what you need to get. It
also talks about how to keep track of your records and discussions on the different
software available. Definitely worth taking a look at if you are just starting or
need a refresher.
Popularity: 35% [?]
DNA Genealogy Oversold
Last week I had posted about Genetic
Genealogy and how it was being used by some people to trace their ancestry back
thousands of years. Well, today I read a posting about how
Genetic Genealogy might be oversold. The poster was referencing an article saying
that Genetic Genealogy was being overhyped to people thinking that they would no longer
need to do genealogy research. The article said that Genetic Genealogy was fun to
do and could be interesting, but it was not a definitive way to find out your ancestry.
The poster came up with some good examples of how Genetic Genealogy
is useful and debunked some of the points made in the article. It is a good read for
anyone thinking about participating in a DNA Genealogy study. I’m still considering
doing this myself. I just need to find the time to do some research on it. Anyone
have a good site that they have worked with for participating in a DNA study?
Popularity: 20% [?]
Tennessee Genealogy Helps
If your genealogy research leads you to Tennessee here is a great blog that can help you out: http://genielinks.blogspot.com/.
This blog has numerous posts to help you locate your Tennessee ancestors and is updated
frequently. Check it out.
Popularity: 18% [?]
African American Genealogy - West Virginia
If you are searching for African
American Genealogy in West Viriginia a new blog has been created that might help
you. Blogger Chaynes has created a large index of African American people in West
Viriginia which has been given to various historical socities. What started out as
a personal search for some grandparents has turned into a large compilation of African
American Genealogy. Here is an excerpt:
Somewhere along the line I decided that if I simply wrote down the names
of every black/mulatto/native american that I could find in the area, by the process
of elimination, I would locate my ancestors.
Every year I would send a copy of my draft notes to a historical society or museum.
The first year I sent one tiny section consisting of, at most, forty pages. Now, there
are 27 sections.I now feel that it might be of some help to folks who had ancestors in southeastern
West Virginia to share some tips and information via a blog.
Popularity: 18% [?]