Saturday, March 2, 2013

Saturday Serendipity -- March 2, 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 surfing of the blogosphere/internet.

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

1.   I found a few posts of interest on Upfront With NGS this week.  (1)  New York is proposing legislation that will allow access to adoptees's records. (2) The importance of preservation of historic sites and buildings noting the "visceral reaction [genealogists and historians have] to standing on the land where one’s ancestors may have trod or visiting a building they may have stepped foot in." Some links to historic preservation videos are provided. (3) With a shout-out to Thomas MacEntee's Geneablogger and Facebook documentation of the explosion of genealogy blogs, Diane Richard shares her strategy for managing the genealogy blogosphere that now numbers over 3,000 blogs.

2.   After opening a dialog last week about behavior during cemetery visits, Heather Kuhn Roelker at Leaves For Trees has provoked some lively comment discussion this week about Find-A-Grave and the use of gravestone photographs posted there.

3.  The Weekly Genealogist flags two articles this week that I found interesting.  One is a new museum on the Irish Famine opened by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT.  My wife and I visited a famine museum in Roscommon, Ireland a few years ago.  Anyone with Irish ancestry -- particularly involving the famine years of 1845 - 1852 -- will surely find this museum a moving and informative experience. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/nyregion/a-review-of-irelands-great-hunger-museum-in-hamden.html?_r=2&   The other article is a quick read and serves as a sample of what the popular press is publishing about DNA testing (it is surrounded by DNA advertisements). http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-18/news/ct-met-dna-genealogy-tests-20130218_1_dna-test-results-genetic-adam-genealogy-hobbyists  

4.   While preparing a brief upcoming post about keeping a family Autograph Book, I spent some time reading and viewing a series of posts that Pam Beveridge has on her blog Heirlooms Reunited.  If you have ever enjoyed the beautiful covers and handwriting in 19th century autograph books (or if you have never seen one), I highly recommend a visit to Pam's blog.  You will not be disappointed . . . AND Pam very kindly provides a list of signatories contained in some of the books.  Who knows?  You might find an ancestor or relative among the people listed!

5.   Heather Rojo tells an intriguing story of a genealogy mystery she unraveled as a curious and persistent teenager.  I kid you knot!  Read "He married his Step Sister?" at Heather's Nutfield Genealogy and ask yourself if you could have untied this particular tangle.

6.   Check out the impressive photo detective work performed on the "George's Wedding Photo" two-part posting at Abbie and Eveline!   The subjects are very attractive folks.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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5 comments:

  1. Thanks so much, John! I've had a lot of comments on my blog post from folks who have also had to untangle multiple marriages between relatives. It's not easy!

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  2. Thank you for the mention, John! I'm afraid it's morphed into more than two parts! :)

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  3. Kathy: I saw that when I sent you a notice that I had mentioned your wedding photo posts. You were on to Part 3 already. :-) Anyone reading the comments here should now look at all three parts. Nicely done!

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  4. Heather: I have had a couple of multiple marriages to get a handle on in my genealogy so far, but nothing as difficult or as interesting as yours! :-) And I was not a teenager when I ran into them. Your post was instructive about how curiosity and persistence pay off!

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  5. Thanks for the mention, John. Another great list of links to check out!

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