Another another approach to writing family history

From the Idaho Press-Tribune, "Cook up your family history stew," presents an approach to writing your family history, comparing it making a good stew. While you do have to wade through the analogy a bit to get to the concrete suggestions, it may be a good way to make the task less forbidding. And for those who have an aversion to writing, the article suggests that just making notes and putting them in order "becomes a valuable memorial to your family's heritage." This may be especially valuable to those who are working with very reluctant family members -- even a little bit of information can be worth much.

A Review of the Basics for Beginning Researchers

Published earlier this month on Pennlive.com, here is a nice overview for beginning researchers on how to get started on family history.  The article, "Genealogy 101: How can I research my family's roots?" provides some good points, like, "Get out of the house," "Don't disregard anything you find," and Trust, but verify." In fact, it might even be a good refresher for those of us who have been doing this awhile.

Useful update on researching immigration records

A recent column on Seattlepi.com, "Why are genealogists fascinated with our immigrant records and why are they so hard to find?" reviews the methods and resources for researching immigration records. One important point made is that one cannot typically go right to the country of origin and dig into the records, without first narrowing the field place within the country, information usually derived from more recent records and tracing back. The article provides a nice update on researching immigration records and includes some useful links. 

Genealogy of Communites: Intentional Communities in the Next Century

In the final article of her Genealogy of Communities series, Judy Rosella Edwards explores communities of the recent past and looks to the future: "Genealogy of Communities: Intentional Communities in the Next Century." One point made was the increase in international and cross-cultural marriages brought about during wartime; locating ancestors in war-torn and unstable countries is and will continue to be a challenge. The article also asks the question of how genealogists will manage the research of ancestors whose choices and philosophies might differ from their own. Many of these questions we are already addressing and apply to all generations and all time periods, although the new challenges are sure to bring about new and exciting genealogical and technological innovations. This has been an informative series with ideas for researching in many directions.