Saturday Serendipity -- February 23, 2013

Saturdays often allow a more leisurely approach to life than work days. I can more easily post links to some blog posts or other materials I have discovered during the week, or even to those discovered during a Saturday morning coffee and extended blogosphere/internet surfing.

Here are a few serendipitous discoveries from this week that I commend for inclusion on your reading list.

1.   A very interesting piece brought to my attention by a friend.  The Economist from February 9, 2013, Nomencracy: Surnames offer depressing clues to the extent of social mobility over generations.  As the article says, "The past has a tight grip on the present." 

2.   A couple of posts again from a gem of a blog, The Legal Genealogist by Judy G. Russell.  [IMHO, if you are a genealogy blogger this is a blog you should follow.]  First, an informative and useful post about images you can use on your blog without worries concerning copyright violations.  Judy explains about "Photochrom prints" and provides a site link.  Second, an interesting story that Judy titles, "The boy who lived."  Judy investigates a young boy who ran away from a sanatorium  for patients with tuberculosis (TB) in Akron, Ohio in 1927.  TB touched many families in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when it was often called "consumption."

3.   One of my favorite blogs is Nutfield Genealogy by Heather Wilkinson Rojo (who was recently discovered to be my 9th cousin 1x removed).  This week Heather had a fun piece titled, "Weird Search Terms February 2013."    Heather shares some amusing (and real) search terms from Google and other search engines that have hit her blog.

4.   A two-part piece by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog culminated in "The Big Reveal" this past Wednesday.  Read -- and see -- what Jana discovered inside a metal tube found in her grandfather's black briefcase.  Start here and then (after you make your guess as to what is inside) go here for The Big Reveal.  No cheating now!!

5.   This one is admittedly not very serendipitous (since it responds to one of my own posts), but I enjoyed learning about what other genealogy bloggers had done by way of creating and using "Blog Cards" to accurately pass on the name and URL for their blogs.  Heather Rojo and Barbara Poole responded with useful information on what they have done -- and Barbara at Life From The Roots posted a photo of her blog card.  I would love to hear and see what other genealogy bloggers have done, so perhaps Barbara's post will be a catalyst for others to show their cards too.

6.   Heather Kuhn Roelker at Leaves For Trees raised an interesting topic for thought and discussion, "What are your thoughts on cemetery behavior?"

A New Blog To Me. . . Organize Your Family History by Janine Adams.  Anyone who has seen my workspace knows I am in serious need of tips on organizing my genealogy "stuff."

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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