Blogging and Genealogy by the Lemon Grove Group

After having such success with a blog of mine that the Bloggers Group convinced me to try. I took the "Bloggers Group" thoughts to the genealogists who meet in Lemon Grove and we are going to see if it works for them also. Blogging does have a major place in genealogy and I can attest to it. Thomas McAfee, George Morgan, Pat Richley, and other members of the panel gave some very strong evidence of positive results.

Having suspected as humans, we are creatures of habit or rote. We repetitively do the same motions over and over so we repeat our mistakes and we miss the good clues that can be gained by clean, concise information.

I like to advocate that one takes January to refresh their research and review their old files for clues that have been filed away and maybe even forgot one has. I like to see one develop a good habit of posting a clean query on any site they post to.

I have been observing the ROOTSWEB lists and the constant missing information generates more questions to see if one can help, has information to help or maybe even may connect to them. One does not need to have all the facts. Or at times I just delete it because to much work involved to get the information that should have been presented in their haste to look for information. Yes, I have been guilty of the same thing. Some how I think when we had to set down and write a letter to the society for help or courthouse etc we were more thorough with our writing or speaking. If I am in a hurry, I pick up the phone and ask the questions directly. It works, it really works.

Facts are what we are looking for, one does need to post a clean query that helps others to help them.
I love the idea that bloggers suggested about using a story format. I think it helps one to give better information.

You may only have a last name, or a first name or no name but you share the data you have on the factual name and then
you can relate the potential thoughts for additional kin. You may not have a birth date but you may have a child's birth date or death. You can have a death date and no place, all these can be added to the story and when someone reads the
information then maybe one of your clues, thoughts or concepts will click with another person and you can have a working
relationship to find the end results.

No, we do not always have instant success and we have become a nation of instant wants, needs( I do not think so) desire yes.
Patience is a major virtue even in genealogy. Good things come to those who wait. Some one said that once.
A book may fall off a shelf, a person sends the wrong email only to find it was better than the right email, you walk a cemetery for a friend and find your missing link on a tombstone, ( yes this happened to me in Wyoming).

One never knows where the next clue may come from. A magazine (Remininsce Magazine) carries many old times stories and seldom do you hear people use it as a source. Readers Digest can have many old great family stories shared over the years.

I love small town newspapers because of the data that they put in them. Names, places, events and age not a limit to knowledge printed for research. The columns that go back to 30, 50 and 80 years ago are full of tidbits for family in any certain region.

Has anyone taken the time to research COOK BOOKS? Yes, there are cook books that are genealogical in nature. I have three myself printed by off shoot family lines. One is from Pennsylvania with many old German Dutch type recipes along with Ukrainian etc, another is from Ohio printed by the Taylor family. One of my favorites is one I got at a garage sale when young living in Coronado and bought the Ebell Society of Santa Ana Valley Cook Book printed in 1926. California. Each recipe in these books has the presenters name attached. The one I have from Sonoma County has many classmates MOM's names in the book. They are so much fun. Thanks Virginia Malnati for acquiring it for me, my parents family friend.

More sources not looked at are postcards, I had an awesome collection until the Navy moved us by CoroVan to Hawaii and they (postcards) and my address book never arrived. I kept cards from my kin all over the USA from WW2 to 1967 when we moved.
I can never replace many of them but I go to Antique Malls and shops and watch for post card. I lost contact with many great Navy friends then. I have found two since returning from HI and the age of home computers. I lost tidbits of information and signatures of many people long since gone. I love picture post cards. Do you realize they have them of court houses, statues,
history plaques of the area, famous people. Have you ever been to Cody, Wyo. and seen his statue, ever been to McPherson, Kansas and seen McPherson's statue? On this vein I could go on for almost every county and of course every state for information not normally considered in doing research. I lucked out in Michigan getting to go through four bins of postcards and I was able to replace 25 of mine that were lost and I also took others that now fit in the family realm of things, either via place or people. The one recently given me and I copied is of my Great Uncle as a contortionist in a circus and has his picture and his being bent like a pretzel. Yes we had more than one circus performer in my Mom's side of the family.

So besides, farmers, carpenters, judges and clerks, school teachers and politicians of old there were many other professions to look into. Some times this comes out in a Probate packet with the tools of that persons trade is auctioned off or given to living member of family to continue the trade. Blacksmiths today are a high paid worker and very hard to find yet their is major demand for them yet.

So as you write your story to present to a blog think of all these things and give yourself a chance to find that Elusive Ancestor.
I want to say thanks to those Bloggers who really impressed me with their thoughts because it has already found me a BrickWall partially dissolved.