Saturday Serendipity (September 9, 2017)

Here are a few recommendations for your weekend reading .  .  .

1.  With images of the devastation of Houston and other cities and towns in Texas by Hurricane Harvey still in the forefront of all our minds -- and the destruction yet to be imposed in Florida by Hurricane Irma haunting us -- many genealogists cannot help imagining the water-damage to precious photos and documents that is one of the heartbreaking results of major storms like Harvey, Irma, and Jose.  Just this morning UpFront With NGS blog posted a very helpful reminder and links for helping to deal with water-damage to family photos and important documents. You can read the post here and pass it on to those you know who might have need of the noted resources.     

2.  Tomorrow is the often little noticed Grandparents' Day. In recognition of Grandparents' Day, Dianne Nolin (author of Genealogy: Beyond the BMD blog) issued a challenge to "tell a story as told to you by one of your grandparents." Marian Wood of Climbing My Family Tree blog took a slightly different tack to recognize Grandparents' Day and instead noted at least one surprising thing she learned about her grandparents while doing her genealogy research. Both of these means of recognition strike me as wonderful ways to remember and memorialize one's grandparents. See Dianne's challenge at the link provide above and read Marian's surprising discoveries about her grandparents here.

3.  Immigration is in the news every day now for one reason or another -- and it has often been said that, but for Native Americans, all Americans descend from or were themselves immigrants at one time. This week Barbara Poole of Life From The Roots blog posted a very interesting interactive animation that illustrates immigration patterns into the U.S. since 1820 -- almost two centuries of new Americans!  You can read more about the animation and get the link provided by Barbara here.     
        
4.  Now that it is approaching one year since Diane Boumenot's great 8-part series on Guide to Rhode Island Genealogy Research was completed on her blog, One Rhode Island Family, it is worth posting to the summary of links to all eight guides.  If you have any roots in Rhode Island, then you really, really need to be aware of (and use) Diane's invaluable guides.  You can get the links to each of the guides here.   

5.  Amy Johnson Crow had a very interesting post on her blog about two weeks ago, but I only got around to reading it recently. The title of the post  -- "Why Ancestry and Family Search Aren't Sources" -- says it all and it is worth reading. You can read Amy's post here. Also, as someone who finally attended my first genealogy conference at NERGC 2017 in April, Amy also had an intriguing and thoughtful post a few days ago titled, "Are In-person Genealogy Events Dead?" I agree with her views. You can read them here.

6.  And finally, a little "this day in history' interlude .  .  . It was on this day in 1776 that the Continental Congress decided on a new name for the nation it was forging. Thomas Jefferson had used the name in both a draft and the final version of the Declaration of Independence, but it was the Second Continental Congress that resolved the name formally and issued an announcement, "That in all continental commissions, and other instruments, where, heretofore, the words 'United Colonies" have been used, the stile be altered for the future to the 'United States.'" 
     
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Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

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