There are 11 newly-discovered genealogy and family-history related blogs that we’ve located this week. Remember to try and help out these new blogs by:
- using any follow feature listed on the blog
- adding them to your blog reader
- adding a comment on their blog saying “hi” and “welcome”
Here are this week’s new listings:
Ahnentafel – Genealogically Speaking
http://agnette.wordpress.com
Blog type: Individual family history
I was born and raised in Caldwell, Idaho. A nerdy kid, I loved nothing better than to read…constantly. I still love to read but manage to intersperse this passion with other interests. Like collecting cookbooks. I’m over 800 now, but I hasten to point out that I count each one separately, even if they are little leaflets, so that’s much better. Right?
Another of my passions, er, addictions, of course, is genealogy. I would hang on every word as my grandparents told me stories of their lives during the 20s and 30s, but it was not until I was about 14 that I stumbled upon genealogy as something concrete and structured. That was when I found a family history one of my cousins had put together as an anniversary present for his grandparents. I was fascinated by what he had uncovered and the stories he had detailed; a number of years later I was able to contact him directly and use his work as the starting point for my own research. The rest, as they say, is history.
Speaking of history, I eventually left Idaho; I obtained both a BA and an MA in Medieval Studies and am now living in Waynesboro, Virginia. In addition to all the aforementioned addictions, I also play country and old-time music in a band with my brother and some friends. Our band name, naturally, has a genealogical theme. The Corn Hog Association was a Depression-era government relief program where my maternal grandmother worked.
Oh yes, and did I mention the piebald brindle dachshund?
AncesTrees
http://ancestrees.wordpress.com
Blog type: Individual family history
I’ve been leafing out my family tree for a long time and believe this is almost as much fun for me as walking along a sandy beach looking for sea shells. I love discovering hidden treasures both places.
Genealogy is a fun and challenging hobby for me. It fits in nicely with my profession as a writer. I’m looking forward to sharing family history and collaborating with others researching members of my family tree.
I’ll be posting about ancestors and welcoming comments as well as requests from other genealogists. I use Family Tree Maker and am a member of the Ancestry.com Aces Program.
Surnames I’m researching include:
Reed, Gotto, Mullett, Fromm, Brownlee, Trostle, Thein, Stitz, Pollard, Ewing, Rankin, Hamilton, Hallett, Massong, Dostert, Junemann, Thompson, Dodds, Gray, Cunningham, Shields
Hutchison, McGill, Munson, Dahms, Lewis, Isenhour, Lierman, Mulhall, Hendricks (Hendrix), Gunning, Bailey, Grizzle
Conversations with Grandma
http://conversationswithgrandma.wordpress.com
Blog type: Australian genealogy blog, Individual family history
This blog was created to celebrate the wonderful relationship I had with my maternal grandfather and still have with my grandmother who is 97 years young. I spent a great deal of time with my grandparents and my grandfather took me everywhere as his little shadow. Under his guidance I was introduced to local and family history without really knowing it. I absorbed stories of bush rangers and met people who held artifacts from the bush ranging era. I sat at the kitchen table of my great grandmother while my grandfather went through photos with her and made her write on the back of them. I watched breathlessly as my great grandmother pointed out a water mark on a wardrobe that was in a house flooded to at least five feet in 1917.
I was told endless stories of the history and heritage of the place where they lived. I restored old furniture and picture frames with my grandfather, all the while with him telling me the provenance of the item. I was constantly submersed in the wonderful world of the history and the heritage of the family. After 28 years formally researching my family history and many more absorbing it by osmosis, I’m trying to put just a little down in writing.
Family Stories
http://sridgley.blogspot.com
Blog type: Individual family history
A blog of stories of our families. Sanders-Hollingsworth-Hawk Whiteside.
Finding your Past: Genealogical Gleanings in Albany
http://findingyourpast.blogspot.com
Blog type: New York genealogy
A blog aimed at discussing all aspects of local history. Areas of focus to include research, documentation, ethnicity, genealogy, cemeteries, cultural events, and historic landmarks.
PlinkBox
http://plinkbox.wordpress.com
Blog type: Genealogy vendor blog
Do you Plink? Plink your photos and give every person a voice and every photo wings. Tell the stories hidden in every photo.
Searching for Ancestors and Stories!
http://geniepam.wordpress.com
Blog type: Individual family history
Stories have always captured my attention–whether ones from ages ago–or ones from today! Genealogy could be considered stuffy, boring, or even strange–to want to know about people who are long-gone, from a time we can’t remember; nor do we have any personal experience with. However, if you once hear a compassionate and fascinating tale about your own ancestors–one with heart, with unforgettable characters–some funny, some brave, maybe even some unsavory—you will be hooked! Ask any “genealogist,” whether they are an accidental genealogist or a professional one, as soon as you begin to discover clues to the why’s and intricacies of stories and people’s lives, you will begin to understand the lure and mystery that calls us!
Shaking the Tree
http://suzysu.wordpress.com
Blog type: Individual family history, New Zealand genealogy
I’m a migrant. I’ve spent most of my life half a world away from my extended (and sometimes, nuclear) family.
Cut off from the rhythm and security of the tribe, the clan, the whanau – and without the rituals of Christmases and birthdays that familial ties tend to engender, I also grew up with no real sense of my place in the world, and an overwhelming need to create my own rituals and celebrations.
It didn’t help that as well as moving countries, we also moved house regularly and so by the time I dropped out of school three days into the sixth form, I’d lived in about nine different houses in five different locations and was on my sixth school.
This isn’t a “poor me” story. I’m a big girl now, responsible for my actions and emotions and for making my own choices. One of those choices has been to research my family’s history.
I’m not quite sure quite how it began; and there is probably no single explanation, but a constellation of small things. My grandmother’s death a few years ago severed the last link with a generation, and while I felt I knew her well, I regret I didn’t’ ask her more about her life.
My brother and I outside our first house in New Zealand, probably around 1968.
My mother has always been a great storyteller and I rely on her for so much information, but that’s only part of the family and I’m a bit estranged from my dad.
Part of it is my age. I noticed when I first got excited about family history and started telling people about it, friends over forty were equally excited and often shared their own stories; the under 40’s kind of glazed over or looked furtively around for the exit.
Certainly the fact that I can access so much information on the Internet has had a huge impact. But however I got to this place, I’m happy to be here. I’m excited by the processes – detective work really, and I’m thrilled when I find someone new to add to my tree. And as I’ve written about before, I am happiest of all when I can learn something about the lives of my ancestors – put flesh on their bones.
Part of that is my background and education. I have a MA in Sociology and a MIS (Master of Information Studies) in Librarianship. Most of my professional life has involved research and writing in some form or another and the sociologist in me needs social history – “the big picture” that for me gives context to my ancestors’ individual lives.
I also enjoy the community of family history researchers – both virtual and physical. I’ve joined the New Zealand Society of Genealogists, and have begun attending the wonderful workshops and seminars run by the librarians at the Auckland Libraries’ Research Centre.
Who will comfort the mothers, weeping for their lost sons? A collage I made based on the stories of two great uncles – one of mine and one of my partner’s.
Finding ways to tell my story is an important part of the process. I enjoy words, but I also have a need to make pictures. I’ve tentatively begun to make collages that include images and fragments of text that help me make sense of my past. I want to continue this process.
‘Shaking the Tree’ is important to me. It’s both the record of my work and a conversation I’m having with other people. Some are people I’m related to and who know the characters in my stories and may be inspired to share their own, but there are also many others – you perhaps – who might be interested in your family, and your stories. I won’t get to meet many (any?) of you in person, but I feel I know some of you already from the wonderful, funny, sad and poignant accounts you share of your past and the characters who peopled it.
For my mother: a reminder of the strong women who bore us and for whom we were named.
I intend to “keep shaking” my tree and sharing the leaves and fruit that fall.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Silver Branches
http://silverbranches.blogspot.com
Blog type: Individual family history
Silver Branches is a blog about genealogists providing volunteer research time for residents at nursing homes. It’s a great way to serve others!
Union Forge Genealogy
http://unionforge.webs.com/apps/blog/
Blog type: Individual family history, Professional genealogy blog
Whether you need a little help organizing your family history or a full research project, we can lead you on the right path. Union Forge Genealogy provides research packages that meet everyone’s needs. Your family becomes our family as we provide personal, one-on-one service. Together, we develop a plan that suits your research goals. At the end, we then present you our research in an organized manner with clear, accurate information. Our research packages also make great gifts!
Walking It Back
http://walkingitback.blogspot.com
Blog type: Individual family history
This blog is for my dad, and interested relatives, about my project to document our family’s genealogy. It started when I offered to become the family keeper of my dad’s genealogy files and learn what he found — and what it meant to him — in his decades of searching for his background. I got hooked on the quest of “finding Henry,” Dad’s grandfather, who seemed to appear from nowhere with a brand new name and no background except “Norwegian.”
© 2013, copyright Thomas MacEntee
