Saturday Serendipity (January 14, 2017)

Here are a few recommended reads for over the weekend.

1.  For those with roots in Ireland, The Weekly Genealogist of NEHGS brings to our attention a new database of 250,000 births, marriages, and deaths in indexes hosted online by the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS).  IGRS was founded in 1936 in response to the destruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland in 1922. The database "covers records dating prior to 1864 -- the year from which general civil registration began in Ireland." You can read more about this new resource here.   

2.  And if you happen to have roots in the state of Alabama, then UpFront With NGS blog has noted a useful new resource for you.  The Alabama Media Group recently donated its huge collection of historical photograph negatives to the Alabama Department of Archives and History. There are apparently more than 3 million images three different Alabama newspapers . . . most of which have never been published.  Learn more about this new resource here , where you can also watch a 1:45 video about the collection.  

3.  And speaking of research resources for genealogists to use, The Legal Genealogist (Judy Russell) posted this week about not overlooking the resource of legal notices placed in newspapers. Read Judy's informative post here.     

4.  Judy Russell also posted a very important warning this week concerning a genealogy website called FamilyTreeNow. Everyone should read Judy's post here and be reminded about the responsibility genealogists have to be very careful about the public dissemination of private and personal information . . . especially for living persons.  Judy also provides step-by-step directions on how one can opt out of having one's information available through this website. Those who go to Judy's post for her full take on this website and the issues involved, should also be sure to read the comments to the post!              

5.  This edition of Saturday Serendipity appears to have morphed into a resource index of sorts, and so it is appropriate to mention another useful resource that was spotlighted this week by James Tanner of Genealogy's Star blog.  Read here about a map of archives in the United Kingdom and a listing of national archives around the world as provided by the National Archives of the United Kingdom. As Mr. Tanner notes, there are apparently 2,246 archive sites in England alone!            

6.  Janine Adams of Organize Your Family History blog, posted yesterday on the frequently raised topic of using formal citations in genealogy. Janine addresses the subject with the following question, "How important is it for hobbyist genealogists to use properly formatted citations?" This is a subject I also discussed in a 2013 post. Read Janine's post and the accompanying comments here.        
  
7.  And finally, for a bit of levity, there is the post yesterday at Nutfield Genealogy by Heather Rojo. From time to time Heather posts about the "weird search terms" that someone somewhere Googled to land at her blog. Have a look here for the most recent additions to this strange collection. You'll knit your brow in puzzlement, you'll shake your head in disbelief at what can only be some basic educational failures, and you'll probably have a few good chuckles.  You can also get links to six previous weird search term posts.
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Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

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