GenWeekly, Vol. VII, No. 6
It's Genealogy. It's Weekly. It's GenWeekly.
February 5, 2010
Elisabeth Lindsay, Editor
All articles are copyright (c) 2009 Genealogy Today, LLC.
This Week's Articles
The original article(s) in this section are available only to subscribers. You can learn about our $9.95 annual subscription at http://www.genweekly.com/subscribe.html.
Lexicons of Lost Lifestyles: Weaponry Wordings, Part 1
by Jean Hibben. Explores terms and phrases handed down from weapons of war.
by Jean Hibben. Explores terms and phrases handed down from weapons of war.
by Judy Rosella Edwards. Names can be tricky -- taking a closer look at what we think we know and citing the source!
Recent News
- African American DNA Research Highlighted. Celebrating Black History Month. See author's complete interview with Dr. Rick Kittles, and expert in African-American genetic research.
- "Who Do You Think You Are," American style. See a preview of the new series.
- Brief Refresher of Online Genealogy Resources. The Internet as "handy for genealogy research" is hardly news, but the article highlights some good, free online resources.
- Genealogy Project tracks ancestry of Charles Darwin. Turning the table and tracing the evolution of the man himself.
- MyHeritage Acquires Major Family Network OSN to Accelerate Building the World's Family Graph. New acquisition "expands the size of MyHeritage.com's unique family graph to 13 million trees."
The Genealogy Guide
In the interest of helping readers gain better insight into genealogical terms, Genealogy Today has created a Genealogy Guide. Each week, GenWeekly features a new term from the continually expanding Genealogy Guide.
Jumping the broom is a marriage custom most closely associate with the period of American slavery. The exact origin, practice, and symbolism of the custom is subject to debate. Because African-American slaves were not "officially" allowed to marry, slave couples who wished to be married would ceremoniously jump over a broom in the presence of friends and family. Jumping the broom served as a declaration of intent within the African community.
Understanding marriage rituals and practices within a particular culture is important in genealogy, helping researchers gain a better sense not only of what records might -- or might no -- be available and where, but also to understand more of the historical context in which their ancestors lived.
Archive Articles
For additional reading on the topics covered in this week's newsletter, you may wish to read the following articles from the GenWeekly archive:
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