Saturday Serendipity (January 25, 2020)

The following are suggested reads for this weekend.

1.     This week The Weekly Genealogist of NEHGS announced a call for a new television documentary series that will focus on people who have been inspired by discoveries from their family history.  As the announcement queries, "Has your ancestral research influenced your values, education, occupation, hobbies, or life choices?  Have you learned about yourself through the discovery of new genealogical information, or through researching a family heirloom?"  If you can answer in the affirmative, then you are asked to contact Claire Vail for more information on the new series and perhaps how you can participate.  Claire's email (as provided in the announcement) is Claire.vail@nehgs.org and the subject line should be "Casting call (TWG)."

2.     If during this 400th Anniversary year of the Mayflower landing you plan to learn more about the Mayflower, its passengers, and the reasons for its voyage to America in 1620, then you need to consult Heather Rojo's very helpful post at her blog, Nutfield Genealogy.   Heather did a Google book search for Mayflower books and published a list of the more than 50 results she obtained.  Read the post here and find Heather's suggestions on how to get to any book that interests you and the ability to then do focused searches in digital versions.      

3.     James Tanner of Genealogy's Star blog has posted yet another very interesting, thought-provoking post.  Read "The Technological Impact on the Future of Genealogy" and the amazing statistics presented by going here.    

4.     Peter Muise of NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE blog posted an interesting piece on bread this past week titled, "Anna and Her Damn Bread: A Legendary Recipe."  Read Peter's post here, discover what the legendary recipe is, and get a link to Peter's favorite recipe from Yankee Magazine.

5.     This week The Weekly Genealogist linked to two other interesting stories.  The first is a fascinating  article at Atlas Obscura about the missing gravesite and remains of the only woman to be honored with a memorial at West Point due to her service at a cannon during the Revolutionary War Battle of Fort Washington.  The second story is an article from Smithsonian Magazine and presents how in 1851 a Maryland farmer named Edward Gorsuch along with his son Dickinson Gorsuch and other family members went to Christiana, Pennsylvania to kidnap free African Americans.  They were surprised by the resistance that was mounted and they failed in their attempts.  Read the whole story here.

6.     And finally, some great news for bloggers and genealogists who aspire to putting their research and writing into a lasting book form at a VERY affordable price -- Diane Maclean Boumenot of One Rhode Island Family blog has returned to blogging after a hiatus of almost seven months!  And she has a gift for all of us as presented in her return post of three days ago!  Diane has been busy building "a series of courses under the name 'Genealogy Skills Today,' [and] the first course is free for all of 2020."  This free course is titled "Produce Your Family History Book for $20" and you can read about this generous offer and get a link to the main page of the course by going here.  If I recall correctly, I saw an early version of this course in a presentation Diane made to the Rhode Island Genealogical Society (RIGS) a year or two ago.  You will find the course to be very good and very useful.  I encourage you all to take a few minutes to look at the course and take advantage of Diane's generous offer!

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

Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

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