Friday, February 26, 2010

Family Tree Magazine's Top 40 Blogs may help navigate the seas

Earlier this week Family Tree Magazine announced its list of the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs. Everyone tends to follow a few favorite blogs -- there are way too many to read them all. But if you'd to expand your horizons or don't know which blogs to read, the top 40 categories may give you a place to start. Some have more eye-appeal and some make it easy to identify and navigate to items of interest. One such item caught my eye on the top-rated blog in the All-Around category, Creative Genes. I have been looking for city directories in New York City circa 1907-1910, so the City Directories link caught my eye. I found the blog offers a series of articles on city directories. While I've not read all articles in the series, and don't expect to find the answer to my specific question, the general information provided will, no doubt, be useful for anyone researching city directories. I remember in my early years of researching (pre-Internet), I was avoided city directories, thinking the field to vast an undertaking. The Internet has made the task less intimidating and more hopeful. I have since found some good information in city directories, and they are absolutely priceless for pinpointing a person in time and place . . . if one exists for your particular time and place. I'm not finding much encouragement for Manhattan city directories for my time period, but the search continues. So if you don't have a favorite set of genealogy blogs, you might use this year's top 40 list and take one or two a week to browse. 

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Friday, November 13, 2009

"Beat the Crowds" by reserving your National Archives visit online

If you are considering a trip to the U S. National Archives, you may want to check out Dick Eastman's blog, "National Archives Launches New Online Reservations System," providing information on how to "Beat the crowds" and reserve your time, conveniently online.

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New "Sources" on Irish Reserach

Here is some great insight to a source we might not all be perusing in our online travels.  Leland Meitzler, on his GenealogyBlog, highlights "The New 'Sources' Database for Irish Research." Described as "A new database of source materials for Irish research, entitled simply 'Sources,'has been  launched by the National Library of Ireland."

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GLO "not the only game in town"

A recent article by Kimberly Powell on About.com, "Locating Historical U. S. Deeds Online," reminds us the General Land Office (GLO) records is a great resource for finding ancestors in thirty federal or public land states. She also makes the point "the GLO is not the only game in town. Many U. S. counties in the eastern part of the country have started putting their historical deed records online." The article suggests ways of locating these online county deed records.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

How to start your own "genea-blog"

"Discover the online tool that will have people searching for your information instead of the other way around. A genea-blog is a way to have long-lost relatives and fellow researchers in the same fields come to you." In her article, "Instead of Searching the Internet, Have the Internet Search for You: Start a Genea-Blog," Rita Marshall explains how these blogs work and how to get started.

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GenWeekly -- Delivering a Fresh Perspective for Genealogists