Saturday Serendipity (March 25, 2017)

Since I was in Newport, Rhode Island and a few other Rhode Island and Massachusetts locations doing some genealogy research and photography, Saturday Serendipity was on a brief hiatus the last couple of weeks. During my sojourn north, I finally had a chance to attend my first RIGS (Rhode Island Genealogical Society) meeting. The meeting was held in the North Kingstown Library and the first speaker was Rhode Island blogger extraordinaire, Diane MacLean Boumenot. I have corresponded periodically with Diane for a few years now and often recommend reading her always informative and well-written blog posts -- but I had never met Diane until last Saturday. Diane did a wonderfully informative and illustrated presentation on how to produce genealogy-related books at an extremely reasonable price.  If you ever have a chance to see a reprise of her presentation, make sure you do so!  

And with that recommendation, Saturday Serendipity returns this week with the following recommended reads . . . 

1.  As we all know, the foods we are exposed to and learn to either enjoy or dislike are heavily influenced by our ancestors. Foods and recipes favored by our grandparents and great grandparents have a way of being passed down the generations and so food is also an interesting subject for enhancement of family history and genealogy. In the case of our family, a favorite dessert is "Sailor's Duff" that my wife's great grandmother, grandmother and mother made on occasion and often by special request.  Our sons are now both great fans.  The dessert and the family recipe are now being enjoyed by a fifth generation. And, UpFront with NGS blog recently addressed the subject of food, family recipes, genealogy cookbooks.  Read about it here and get some links to pursue the subject further.          

2.  Heather Rojo of Nutfield Genealogy blog posted a thought-provoking piece recently about what she calls genealogy "close calls." We probably all have them and it is simply a matter of whether we know of them or they are simply yet to be discovered. Learn about "close calls" here and see if you have any you can identify in your genealogy -- or perhaps begin to be on the lookout for them as your research continues.     

3.  It is amazing how the advent and advancement of scientific DNA analysis has solved or made significant progress on questions of history, anthropology, and genealogy. A recent article that was highlighted by NEHGS in The Weekly Genealogist explains how DNA analysis has helped solve the mystery of how and when humans first came to Australia. You can read the article here.      

4.  And, speaking of NEHGS and The Weekly Genealogist, for those who are members or otherwise have access to the NEHGS databases, it was recently announced that the Vital Records collections for Londonderry, NH and Plaistow, NH have been updated and are now searchable by first name, last name, record type, year, and parents' and spouses' names. You can learn more about these changes by going to the Database Blog here.  Two other interesting articles were highlighted by The Weekly Genealogist this week.  Read here about a USAF veteran who was shot down in his F-105 fighter jet over North Vietnam in 1965.  He was rescued, but his helmet and other gear were found and taken by enemy soldiers. Fifty years later he and his helmet were reunited. . .  read how here. Then there is the story about a photographic quality portrait of a man who died over 700 years ago. You really need to have a look here and read about how this amazing depiction was created.                 

5. UpFront With NGS provides information and a link to a collection of 170,000 photographs from 1935 to 1945 created by the U.S. Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information (FSA-OWA). The photos depict life in the US during the Great Depression and WWII. Who knows what you might find in the collection? If you don't find photos of ancestors or relatives or their homes and farms, you might find photos that would help illustrate your genealogies (with the requisite permission if applicable, of course). See the post here.  

6. For those of you who choose to use Ancestry DNA, you really should read Judy Russell's March 21st post about the updated Ancestry DNA consent form for voluntary participation in research studies. You can read it a The Legal Genealogist here. 

7.  James Tanner once again provides food for thought in his recent post "What is a genealogically significant document?? Read his post on Genealogy's Star blog here. 

8.  Planning to visit a library to do some genealogy research? Won't you just hate it if the library is some distance from your home and you arrive to find it is closed the day you arrive or that it closed just minutes before you arrived? Amy Johnson Crow has a very useful post to help you avoid this and other frustrations when heading to a library for your genealogy research. Read "6 Ways to Have a Better Library Visit" here.   
    
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _