Saturday, October 11, 2014

Saturday Serendipity ( October 11, 2014)



The following are a few recommendations for inclusion on your reading list this weekend: 

 1.  Judy Russell, of The Legal Genealogist blog, has a post about the coming changes to AncestryDNA.  With all the controversy surrounding the Ancestry venture into DNA testing, this post is worth reading for some good news about AncestryDNA if you should happen to use it.  Read the post here.

2.  It is not often you can get a free book that provides a useful tool for genealogists (amateur and professional alike).  UpFront With NGS provides the background and link to a free book you can download that will assist you in dating daguerreotypes, ambrtoypes and tintypes you might have or come across.  Read about the book and get a link to where you can download it FOR FREE here.

3.  I admit I am not familiar with BillionGraves.com and I have never used it -- but James Tanner at Genealogy's Star blog had a post on Wednesday about enhancements to this competitor of the free  Find-A-Grave.  Mr. Tanner's review makes BillionGraves sound interesting even though it comes with a price as a subscription service.  Read about the enhancements here and see what you think.

4.  Those who regularly read Heather Rojo's blog, Nutfield Genealogy, know that every Wednesday she features photographs of weather vanes she has spotted around New England.  The collections is quite amazing and growing weekly.  I particularly liked the one from this week not just because it shows a very artistic running horse, but even more for the story behind it.  Read the story and see the horse here.

5.  What more can one say . . . October in New England!  SEE it here at Bill West's blog, West in New England.

6.  Jana Last of Jana's Genealogy and Family History blog is also a WikiTreer and she was interviewed for WikiTree.  Read the interview and learn more about Jana here.

7.  You never know where you might find bits of history or genealogy.  NEHGS has an interesting link to items that people have found when doing renovations to homes.  Have a look at the article from This Old House magazine here.
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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew
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3 comments:

  1. Thanks for mentioning my "Weathervane Wednesday" post this week. I try to get weathervanes in their natural habitat (outdoors) but this one had such an interesting story, it was hard to resist. My Mom grew up in Gen. Patton's neighborhood, and she used to play with the caretakers kids, and she enjoyed hearing the tour guide tell the story behind the weathervane. Stay tuned, there is another weathervane from Gen. Patton's house coming up soon on another Wednesday.

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  2. Hi John,
    One clarification, the BillionGraves website is 100% free to use, search, edit, and contribute. Our new BillionGraves Plus features are an optional add-on for people wanting additional information above and beyond the grave site information.
    Hope you will join us!
    In the original post: http://blog.billiongraves.com/2014/10/billiongraves-introduces-5-new-amazing-features/
    "BillionGraves is and will always be FREE for everyone to search and contribute! BillionGraves Plus is an OPTIONAL ADD-ON feature that provides enhanced insight into the records that have been collected!"

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