William Bennett (1806-1890) and Margaret MacFarlane Bennett Brown (1826-1909), Revisited. Preface.

In addition to being serially ill this winter/spring, and generally exhausted after work, I think part of the problem I have had in generating new posts is that I had found some new bits of information about one of my sets of second great grandparents, William Bennett, and Margaret MacFarlane, on my father’s side that I knew I wanted to write up, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do that, and then  I had an attack of perfectionism, which prevented me from writing anything at all since I was afraid it wouldn’t be perfect. So, I kept researching. In the end, I’ve decided to simply rewrite their entry as three separate entries and put a link at the top of what had been the old joint post [which I will delete], directing the reader to these three posts that on William and his wife. This is partially because I’ve discovered in the course of doing “more research” that I got some things wrong in the last post, including a whole extra kid (and consequently line of descendants), who doesn’t belong to this family, and I don’t want to leave the old post containing the misinformation up at all. (This exacerbated the attack of perfectionism).

The three new posts will be (the links to the new posts will go live as they are posted):

1 - William Bennett (1806-1890), Revisited, Part One, will address William’s life to the extent that I currently know it, including newly discovered information leading to more explanation of  the historical context of his early life in Canada (and removing the inaccurate information).

2 - William Bennett (1806-1890) Revisited, Part Two: Weighing Direct Evidence, Circumstantial Evidence, Scientific Evidence, and Historical Context in Consideration of a Hypothesis, will address why my tree on ancestry is different than anyone else’s following this particular Bennett line up, and address my current hypothesis as to who are his parents, and why I think so. This particular post may constitute “thinking out loud” or, at least, “thinking in print, publicly,” but I want to put it out here so that I can get feedback on my hypothesis (whether you may be related or not).

3- Margaret MacFarlane Bennett Brown (1926-1909), Revisited, will address Margaret’s life to the extent I currently know it. As such, there will be some crossover information, but the post was getting way too long when I tried to write about them in one post as I did before since I have some new bits of information about her as well (and removing the inaccurate information).

The first post, William Bennett (1806-1890), Revisited, Part One, should go up in the next two days (it was supposed to go up last week but life intervened again and it didn’t get written. I have, at least, now begun writing it.)  The second should go up by the end of the weekend, and the third will be delayed to the second half of May as I have to get caught up on some continuing education credits for my day job  by mid-May instead of writing blog posts.

Bleah (Been Sick)

from Pixabay

I haven't forgotten the blog.

I just  haven't had the energy to  research or write, for too long.

In March I got the flu, ... then I got bronchitis. After I finally went back to work, I came down with the stomach flu that had been going around the office (thanks, guys).  Then last week I got glutened and was really sick for the rest of the week.

I am truly sick and tired of being sick. I declare it done! Over With!! NO MORE SICKNESS!!!

I have ideas for several posts floating in my brain. They will get written and posted as I start having more energy after work.

NoteWorthy Reads #26

Image from Pixabay.com

For me, Noteworthy Reads are articles, websites, or blog posts I found recently which are fascinating, interesting and/or helpful. When I have the time I review the posts to determine which entries should be put in my Resource pages; the rest will remain available through the blog's search function.

[Note: Just because I list an article does not mean I endorse its contents. It just means I want to be able to find it easily in the future when I may want to consider the issue in more depth.]

CANADA

Update on the Alberta Homestead Collection from Olive Tree Genealogy blog – perhaps the index of the Alberta Genealogical Society is a better choice to research then Ancestry’s new Alberta Homestead index

Canadians Just Wanted to Use Me as a Scullery Maid from Linda Seccaspina’s blog Remembers the Invention of the Wheel – on the British Home children sent to Canada.

The Scots as a Military Strategy from The In-Depth Genealogist – great short-version explanation of the intentional migration of the Scots to the lower boundary areas of the North American British colonies.  For the long version read “Scottish Pioneers of Upper Canada,” by Lucille Campey (which is fascinating if you think your ancestors were part of that)- I have it as a Nook book so I suppose there's a Kindle version as well as regular hard copy books..

DNA

(I'm a beginner with genetic genealogy, so I collect explanations. It helps on these posts to read the comments as well.)

Finding Your Irish Family Homeland from The In-Depth Genealogist discusses a DNA test which helps pinpoint the specific area of origin in Ireland your family comes from.
But see also, Dubious Commercial Claims, an article from the  University College London website. The article casts doubt on the methodology used in the Irish Origenes, Scottish Origenes, and English Origenes websites. 

Autosomal DNA Triangulation, part one: the basics and Autosomal DNA Triangulation, part two: the phenomenon of triangulated segments from Cruwys News

Demystifying Ancestry’s Relationship Predictions Inspires New Relationship Estimator Tool from the DNAeXplained-Genetic Genealogy blog 

Concepts – How Your Autosomal DNA Identifies Your Ancestors  by the DNAeXplained blog – explained in layman’s language; very helpful. The most understandable explanation I've run across so far.

ENGLAND

Bibliography of British and Irish History  – including not only books but also articles in journals and articles within collective volumes. It now includes over 570,000 records. Searches can be conducted through the Subject Tree on ‘advanced search’.

TheGenealogist Adds World War II POW Records - from Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections blog

GERMANY

NEHGS Searchable German Duplicate Records  from the Many Roads blog - church records for the territories of Baden, Brandenburg and Posen, Germany

GREAT STORIES

More Brick Wall Busting Going on Here from Ellie’s Ancestors blog – time for genealogy happy dance!

Birth & Death of John Stufflebean  from the Empty Branches on the Family Tree blog – captured by Indians during the Revolutionary war and sold to the British for a barrel of rum.…

Fugitive Slave: Freedom, Capture, Redemption (Part 1)  and Fugitive Slave: Eyewitness of the Trial (Part 2) from the Tangled Roots and Trees blog  - I had to know what came next, and figured you would too!

HISTORY

See How These “Virtually Unknown” Men and Women Affected Wars without Firing a Gun from HistoryDaily.org – hero combat medics in eight American wars

Was Our 21^st President Secretly Canadian? 19^th Century Birthers Sure Thought So from AtlasObscura.com – President Chester A Arthur.

The Disastrous North Pole Balloon Mission of 1897 from Mentalfloss.com – fascinating

Lakshmibai, the Warrior Queen Who Fought the British Rule in India  from AtlasObscura.com - I recently watched a British documentary on the colonialization of India which touched on some of the same events. It is interesting to read the other perspective.

How First Ladies on Opposing Sides of the Civil War Forged an Unlikely Bond from AtlasObscura.com – Julia Grant and Varina Davis, very interesting

INTERESTING ARTICLE

1878: Four Days in May from the Borders Ancestry blog – a fascinating article showing how a diary extract from 1878 can provide a rich source of historical and genealogical information.

The Olive Tree Genealogy blog  ran an interesting four-part series, titled “Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel” in which she explains how she determined who were the parents of Rachel Van Slyke. Read them in order:

            Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel, Part One 

            Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel, Part Two 

            Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel, Part Three 

            Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel, Part Four 

Ancestral Stories – You Can’t Make This Stuff Up from the Lineagekeeper’s Genealogy Blog – a long time brick wall comes tumbling down with the aid of perseverance, cousins, and serendipity!

Were Your Ancestors Guild Brothers? from The In-Depth Genealogist

How the Women-Led “Bread Boycotts” Changed 20^th Century Food Pricing from AtlasObscura.com

           

IRELAND

Finding Irish Marriage Records from GenealogyBank.com – I did not know that it was common for Irish-American newspapers to publish accounts of marriages solemnized in Ireland.

10 Million Irish Catholic Parish Records Coming Online! from the Olive Tree Genealogy blog ()

No Luck of the Irish  from the Genealogy: Beyond the BMD blog  – Dianne has collected over 60 links to genealogical resources for Ireland

and 

No Luck of the Irish 2 from the Genealogy: Beyond the BMD blog - discusses a new resource for Irish genealogy searches, enhanced Parliamentary Papers on Ireland 1801 -1922.

Family History Useful Resources: a Guide to the Best Irish Genealogy and Archive Repositories from Ireland Reaching Out 

Bibliography of British and Irish History  – including not only books but also articles in journals and articles within collective volumes. It now includes over 570,000 records. Searches can be conducted through the Subject Tree on ‘advanced search’. (Yep, the same one as above under "England". Cross-referencing made easy.) 

TIPS

Beyond The Arrival Date: Extracting More From Immigrant Passenger Lists  from Archives.com

5 Things You Can Do in Genealogy When You’re Short on Time from Amy Johnson Crow’s blog

Know Your Suffixes from the Vita Brevis blog, a blog of the New England Historic Genealogical Society – I did not know that a century or so ago a denotation of so-and-so, 2^nd or 3rd did not necessarily mean that the persons of the same same were related, but rather that there were multiple people with the same name in the same County! Maybe I can stop trying to shoehorn some people into my family, hmmm.... (P.S. Always read the comments, more to learn!)

My Search Was Unsuccessful, Now What? from ModRoots blog – don’t give up, what to try next.

New Geneagem found! Masonic Membership Cards Online from Empty Branches on the Family Tree blog 

Can Census Records Be Wrong?  from The Handwritten Past blog

5 Tips for Getting the Most from City Directories  from Ancestry.com's blog

Do You Know More Now? from the Genealogy Tip of the Day blog 

TOOLS

Using PERSI for research: Periodical Source Index from The Government and Heritage Library Blog of the State Library of North Carolina 

What Was It Worth? Calculating the Historic Value of Money from the LegacyTree blog – explains the various calculators at MeasuringWorth and their relative usefulness in learning more about our ancestors. 

How to Build a Genealogy Research Plan from Amy Johnson Crow’s blog

New Research Tool – Town Land Explorer – Launched  from Irish Genealogy News– allows researchers to search a Superintendent Regular District to reveal a list of all the civil parishes and towns included within the registrar’s district. (Ireland)

Don’t Leave the Courthouse Just Yet! from the LegacyTree blog – treasures can be found in the Index to the Court of Common Pleas

Top 3 Reasons Why FamilySearch Historical Records Articles Should Be Your Favorite Research Resource  from the FamilySearch blog -  I don’t know about “favorite” but it’s up there in the top 10 or so.

USA

OHIO

Ohio’s Digitized Newspapers  – this page includes a full (linked) listing of Ohio’s digitized newspapers on Chronicling America and Ohio Memory.

RHODE ISLAND

My Favorite 100 Rhode Island Roots Articles  from the One Rhode Island Family blog – a compilation of links to wonderful Rhode Island resources. Most of these I have not seen before. I can’t wait to try them! My Mom assures me we’re related to Roger Williams; I haven’t made it far enough back on her lines to confirm that yet. Perhaps these will help?

I Ran Out Of February!

What I'm Reading Now
(a book is a book, whether it be paper, ebook, or audiobook)
Click to Make Bigger

February is too short! I am working on Noteworthy Reads #26, but it’s not going to get done tonight unless I stay up all night and I’m too tired for that. It also won’t get done tomorrow night since I have a class. So at this point, I am aiming for next weekend.

The reason the Noteworthy Reads for February will be late is that I flew over 1500 miles to see my parents and my brother’s family and had a lovely visit, without my laptop. After I returned, this past Sunday night I went to see Altan, an Irish music group, in concert as my choice for my parents’ Christmas present to me. I’ve loved their music for over 20 years. I had a blast! (There was dancing in the aisles!) [Here’s a sample of their music on YouTube: John Doherty’s Reels (instrumental) or an old favorite song, Dulamon.]

I’ve also been ordering, and reading, books to help me more understand the world my ancestors lived in, and the events they lived through. Here’s a list of books I’ve been reading recently:

    

• The Patriots and the People: The Rebellion of 1837 in Rural Lower Canada by Allan Greer
• A Deep Sense of Wrong: the Treason, Trials and Transportation to New South Wales of Lower Canadian Rebels after the 1838 Rebellion by Beverley Boissry
• The History of Huntingdon and of the Seigniories of Beauharnois and Chateauguay, by Robert Sellar (150th Anniversary Edition)
• Famine in West Cork: the Mizen Peninsula Land and People 1800-1852 by Patrick Hickey
• Commemorating Canada: history, heritage, and memory, 1850s-1990s (Themes in Canadian History) by Cecilia Morgan.

I’ve also recently reread/skimmed The Scottish Pioneers of Upper Canada, Glengarry and Beyond” by Lucille H Campey.

Further, I’ve discovered the treasure trove of old (off copyright) history books on Amazondotcom that can be downloaded to the Kindle app on my iPad. I think they are mainly the same sort of digitized old history books that I have been reading over the last year or so on Google Play books, but instead of getting a crick in my neck trying to read the whole book on my laptop through the bottoms of my bifocals, I can read them in the same position I would any other e-book on an e-reader – much easier on the neck! I'm going to take a closer look at the Canadian history titles later this week.

Check back this coming weekend for my next installment of NoteWorthy Reads, #26!

Of Lack of Time, New Cousins, and Deep, Deep Roots

Image from Pixabay.com

This month has just gotten away from me. I intended to do regular posts and here it is more than half a month into February and this is my first post of the month. Not what I intended. But life got away from me.

It has been a full month. It feels as though I’ve been busy almost every evening. But I have been able to research on the weekends, and I have been reading a lot of Canadian history. Most particularly about the rebellions of 1937 and 1938, which I’d never heard of before, but it looks like I have at least two ancestors who were involved in the conflicts (on the side of the British). My research will lead to at least two, possibly three ancestor articles in the next month or so. I really can’t wait to share it with you but I want to try to fill in some more holes before I do (if I can’t fill them in within the next few weeks I’m just going to publish them and ask you to help me fill them in.)

As a result of all my recent research, I’ve also suggested to The Great Courses that they produce a course on Canadian History because listening to their courses on American history helped me so much in understanding my ancestors lives and in getting ideas of where to look next when I lose them. What I’ve learned from them has also informed my posts here. So I went looking for a course on Canadian history and they don’t have it. So I suggested it to them through their website and through their Instagram account. They tell me that they will take it under advisement and that they like to produce what they think their customers want and will use. So I’m now putting out a plea that my readers also request that Great Courses put out a course on Canadian history. I figure the more of you that do that the more likely that I will get my Canadian history course sooner rather than later!

I have also been lucky enough to be contacted by several people inquiring as to whether we may be related, which required going through our trees to try to find where we meshed. We figured it out for one on my mom’s side, on the Erwin line. We’re in an ongoing process of figuring out a connection on my dad’s side, on the Bennett line. And I had a person contact me making queries about the Henn line, based on DNA results, but after I responded with links to various pedigree charts, I never heard from her again, so I’m thinking that one did not match up. (She never sent me a link to her pedigree chart so I don't know for sure.)

Finally, I’ve uploaded my AncestryDNA results to GEDmatch, so that I can compare them against a larger pool of genealogy-seekers. GEDmatch is a free website that allows you to upload your autosomal DNA test results from AncestryDNA, from Family Tree DNA, or from 23 and Me to their website and compare against others from any or all of those (pay) sites. In comparing your DNA with others, you can see the results numerically or through a graphic representation similar to that which you see on Finding Your Roots on PBS. You can also see not only how they match you, but how they match each other, which I understand can help figure out the distance to the common ancestor (I don’t understand that part yet), and it shows you their email addresses so you can contact those you choose to contact. There was also a tool that let me separate out which parts of my DNA came from my mother and which came from my father, which was interesting, and another tool which compared my mother and my father to determine whether they are related to each other (they aren’t). Additionally, there are seven different options for displaying ethnicity or deep ancestry data. 

Of course, I played with the deep ancestor admixture charts. I discovered that they are talking about deep, deep roots on these tests. Really deep roots!

You know how I’ve been telling you that I that I come from a long line of farmers? I had no real idea of exactly how long that could possibly be!

Here is my MDL P K 13 Ultimate-Deep Origins of Populations Calculator result:

MDLP K13 Ultimate Admixture results for Jo Henn
Chart from GEDmatch.com

The key that accompanies the results identifies the codes as follows:

ANE = component from North Eurasian component by interpolating the non--East-Asian part of Native Americans ancestry.

Caucasus-Gedrosia = identical to Pontikos’s Caucasus-Gedrosia cluster (no real idea of what that means yet)

ENF = the component of the ancient European Neolithic farmers with the peak in the ancient samples of the LBK culture. Among the modern populations -- the highest values have been detected in Sardinian’s, Corsican’s, and Basques.

Near East = the modal component of Middle Easterners

WHG-UHG = the native component of the ancient Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Among the modern populations -- the highest percentage in the population of Estonians, Lithuanians, Finns and others.

Ancient European Neolithic farmers. Now I know that my family have been farmers for a long, long time! And did you catch that I have American Indian DNA? It’s apparently ancient, but it’s there. 

I ran Dad’s and Mom’s DNA data for comparison.

Here's Dad's:

MDLP K13 Ultimate Admixture results for my Dad
Chart from GEDmatch.com

So I didn’t get the AmerIndian from his side. LOTS of ancient farmers, though.

And here's Mom's:

MDLP K13 Ultimate Admixture results for my Mom
 Chart from GEDmatch.com

I got the AmerIndian from mom’s side. She also has a sub-Saharan component.

Sub-Saharan is explained = the second African component (Mandinka, Yoruba, and Esan). 

Perhaps Mom's family is older than Dad's.

Utterly Fascinating!

NoteWorthy Reads #25

Image from Pixabay.com

For me, Noteworthy Reads are articles, websites, or blog posts I found recently which are fascinating, interesting and/or helpful, and occasionally “wacky” or “wonderful” will likely sneak in as well. When I have the time I review the posts to determine which entries should be put in my Resource pages; the rest will remain available through the blog's search function.

Note: Just because I list an article does not mean I endorse its contents. It just means I want to be able to find it easily in the future when I may want to consider the issue in more depth.

I realized in preparing this that it’s been about two months since my last one and that I have been saving articles all along, which made it quite difficult to pare down. I am ignoring the FTM/Ancestry kerfluffle because it has been discussed to death in blog posts and Facebook groups and Google Hangouts and YouTube videos.

A GOOD THING

Papers of the War Department 1784-1800 from The In-Depth Genealogist - the project is trying to reconstruct files and papers which were lost when the War Office burned on 8 November 1800. Copies of these documents were filed elsewhere and are now being brought together me in this open online digital archive. You can help! They are looking for people to help transcribe these documents.

CANADA

Nova Scotia Archives’ New Genealogy Guide Makes it Easy to Find Resources from Genealogy A La Carte 

Canada Patents from Genealogy: Beyond the BMD - She found out that her ancestor invented something in Canada. I wonder if any of mine did. 

Protestant Churches of Beauharnois, Chateauguay, Huntingdon, Napierville, Soulanges and Vaudreuil from the Genealogy Ensemble blog – oh boy, this could be very useful to me

Finding an Ancestor in Canada West from Olive Tree Genealogy

– I have a good number of ancestors who lived in Canada West (which became Ontario)

Don’t Miss the Rural Diary Archive from Olive Tree Genealogy– this talks about a new resource which sounds very cool for those of us who want to know how our people lived! I can’t wait to look at it in more detail.

COPYRIGHT

Where Is the Public Domain? from The Legal Genealogist – can you use that photo without getting sued? (Be sure to read the comments too!)

DNA 
(I'm a beginner with genetic genealogy, so I collect explanations. It helps on thise posts to read the comments as well.)

Saying Hello in the DNA World from the DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy blog  - How to introduce yourself to that new DNA match in a way that will encourage a response that might be useful and will not make the recipient uncomfortable? 

We Match… But Are We Related? from the DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy blog 

DNA Tools from the Study by Night blog - Explains three tools that help her with her genetic genealogy research

The Ancestry 200 from the DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy blog - She has 200 shaky leaf DNA matches at Ancestry - what that means, and the ramifications, with illustrations

DNA Resolutions for 2016 from The Legal Genealogist – resolutions for all of us attempting genetic genealogy research (and, thankfully, ones that I can understand)

DNA Circles – Here’s When They DON’T Mean Connections on AncestryDNA from Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems website 

Here’s How Genetics Helped Crack the History of Human Migration from deepstuff.org

Why Should I Use GEDmatch for My DNA? from the Scrapping My Family History blog 

(Personal recommendation: add the DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy blog to your blog reader, or subscribe to it. The author is extremely knowledgeable; researches extensively, utilizing both DNA and paper trail genealogy; and explains both very well, with illustrations.)

EDUCATION

Tuesday’s Tip: Enjoy a Year of Educational Webinars from Family Tree Webinars from the Genea-Musings blog  

Tune in During 2016! How to Listen to the Free Genealogy Gems Podcast  from Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems - believe it or not, I have never listened to a podcast. I appreciate the explanation. Maybe I'll try it.

GERMANY/German Immigrants

Was Johan Adam Hacker a Redemptioner? from A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy blog – I’d never heard of a redemptioner, and now I will consider that in relation to my German ancestors - interesting post.

German Immigrants in American Church Records from the Legacy Tree blog  – possible way to find ones ancestors' town of origin in Germany

GREAT STORIES (albeit not all happy ones)

Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead!  from The Fairytale Genealogist 

Something about Mary  

    and

Lulu Was a Badass from It’s a Beautiful Tree - unrelated stories, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut either one: Julie writes so well!

To Save Lucille from A Southern Sleuth blog – the tragedy of tuberculosis

Finding Immigrant Descendants – a.k.a. Identifying John Kirsch from the DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy – fascinating

Going Back East: My Schoenthal Great-Grandparents and Their Family 1924-1942 from Brotman Blog: A Family Journey 

HISTORY

A Look inside America Secret Atomic City from History Daily – I suppose I’m fascinated by the secret history of nuclear facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee because my grandfather had the opportunity to work there during World War II, but ended up at the Plum Brook Ordinance Works munitions factory in Ohio instead because grandma didn’t like the potential living quarters – not to mention the fact that it was part of the Manhattan project, building a nuclear bomb. 

120-year-old Astronomy Photo Plates Found in Neils Bohr Institute Basement from The History Blog – nothing to do with genealogy but fascinating nonetheless 

Trunk of Undelivered 17^th Century Letters Rediscovered from The History Blog – wouldn’t you love to read the letters? Wouldn’t it be cool if one of them referenced one of your ancestors?

Immigrant Meals from the Late 1800s from the Rooted in Foods blog  

The American Textile Industry Was Woven from Espionage from AtlasObscura.com  – quite interesting 

The First Cross-Country Road Trip Took 2 Men and a Pitbull 63 Days from AtlasObscura.com 

IMAGES – FOR BLOGGING

NYPL Images Free to Use from The Legal Genealogist NYPL = New York Public Library. 180,000 free digitized images. Wow!

INTERESTING ARTICLE

Baby, it's Cold Out There! Genealogy and the Weather by Genealogy's Star blog 

The Three Unique Sources Didn’t Prove Anything from the Life from the Roots blog – trying to nail down that elusive “fact”.

Newspapers Help Smash a Genealogy Brick Wall from the FamilySearch blog – a search story with tips along the way

The Average American Lives 18 Miles from Their Mom  from mentalfloss.com – I am not average; I live 1559 miles from my mom

George III’s Huge Map Collection Digitized  from The History Blog – “The British Library has begun a massive project to digitize all of King George the third’s 50,000 piece map collection.…” Can you imagine how it might help you find where your ancestors have lived if you had contemporaneous maps in which to look?

SCOTLAND

What the Scottish Documents Tell You from The In-Depth Genealogist 

TIPS

How to Use a Microfilm Reader or a Microfiche Reader from Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems 

Allen County Public Library Microfilm at Archive.org from Genealogy Tip of the Day – way cool!

Finding the Neighbors from This American Mutt blog – if you can’t find your ancestor, try this!

Paper Notices  from Genealogy Tip of the Day  – a possible saving grace if the courthouse burned down

Guardianship: A Misunderstood Probate Term from the Ancestry.com blog 

Tuesday’s tip: My Favorite Lesser-Known Websites from the Pages from the Ancestry Binders blog – there are two or three here that I have not heard of that sound helpful; I intend to check them out

TOOLS

Read the Directions from The Legal Genealogist  - she found a downloadable .pdf, which explains exactly what the census takers were told to do for each and every U.S. census from the first census in 1790 all the way up to the census of 2000. That will be a huge help. 

Facebook Groups for Genealogists from the NEXTGEN Genealogy Network

Legacy 8 Tips the Michigan Family Trails blog has an ongoing series on tips for using Legacy 8, a genealogy desktop software. This link is to the gathered index page all of such posts on her blog (as such, it will grow).

Using the Lancaster, Pennsylvania Mennonite Vital Records from Ancestry.com blogs– over the course of many years, the Lancaster Mennonite historical Society compiled more than 200,000 index cards with records of Mennonite families in the region, and ancestry has them! Oh boy, oh boy!

Dear Randy: How Do You Use Your Smart Phone to Do Genealogy? from Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings blog – and I thought I was good with a smartphone! There’s a lot more out there than I was aware of.

Online Database of Fallen British and Irish Railway Men from World War I, from the Genealogy À La Carte

Old Genealogies in the Digital Age from the Vita Brevis blog – the New England Historic Genealogical Society is adding genealogies published in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries to their digital library

Allen County Public Library Online Resources  from the DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy blog – she  often stresses the importance of traditional documentary research as she does here regarding the excellent resources online from the ACPL Genealogy Center for African American and Native American genealogy research.

USA

         ARKANSAS

From the Depths of the Law Library from The Legal Genealogist – if you have ancestors who lived in pre-Arkansas, sometime between 1809 in 1834, you’ll want to read this.

Noteworthy Reads Revisited

Image from Pixabay.com

Despite my New Year’s intentions, it turns out I can’t quit doing the Noteworthy Reads posts. I’m addicted to doing them. I caught up on all of my blog-reading over the past few days and found myself bookmarking blog posts that I just had to share! Except that there’s a limit on how many I can share with friends on Facebook since many of my friends are not into genealogy. I started thinking that I would miss sharing the interesting articles I found on my blog. This led to wondering whether I really had to stop doing posting the Noteworthy Reads; which led to me considering how I would do it if I did continue to write them. This was just one step away from deciding that I was going to feel better if I continue to write them.

Moreover, I found out that quite a few people like the Noteworthy Reads posts and were sorry to see them go. A few people suggested that that doing shorter Noteworthy Reads post would be easier. I can see where that would seem to be a good idea, but, in actuality, that’s not how it works. I read the same number of blog posts either way. In the past four or five days, I got all caught up, having gotten behind during Christmas the Christmas break and the beginning of January; I read or skimmed approximately 2000 posts (do you all have to be so prolific?) and bookmarked articles I really wanted share as I read. Before writing a Noteworthy Reads post I go back over everything that I bookmarked and determine which ones are the best to include – deciding which of a bunch on the same subject is the best written for my audience, which explains something the best, which I now find the most interesting as some may have hit the mainstream media since I bookmarked it and there’s no need to post it if everyone knows about it, etc. If I was going to do a shorter post I would have to be far more stringent in my choosing, which would take more time. [I once told a boss who wanted something written quickly (within two hours) succinctly and well, that he could have written quickly or succinctly, but not both. I tend to write long. If what I have produced is relatively short, I had time to edit. Good editing occasionally takes longer than writing the original, as it requires more strategic thought.]So having decided that I will be writing more Noteworthy Reads posts, I also decided that the posts will likely be as long as they were before, containing quite a few links. However, I decided to only commit to putting up the Noteworthy Reads posts up sporadically, not on a set schedule.

I realize that stating that the Noteworthy Reads posts will go up sporadically is not good business sense as it makes it difficult for readers to predict when they will be posted. However, this blog is a hobby, not a business; and, it’s only going to be a hobby as long as it is still fun. The Noteworthy Reads posts may end up going up fairly regularly, but to say at the outset that they will go up sporadically is a psychological trick on myself since if there is no deadline I am not stressed by not making it or staying up all night in order to make it. So with any luck, the next Noteworthy Reads post will go up sometime in the next five or six days.

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In other updates, I didn’t get much genealogy research done this week because I worked late most nights and the night that I did not, I had a church meeting in the evening. On this nice long weekend I just had, I found myself doing more organizing than research, as well as chasing down things to photograph for my Instagram 365 project. I don’t mean to say that I was organizing the research itself, but I was organizing the space in which I do the research as I find I get very little done in a place that looks like it’s drowning in paper. On my last move. I downsized to a one-bedroom apartment, and my office is my living room couch. I seemed to have grown piles of paper all around one end of the couch because I didn’t have a readily accessible place to put them. This weekend I found a small stack of drawers that look like huge books that I bought and placed beside the bookcases, and into which I’m putting the documents that I took from my parents on my last visit and the items in emails from distant cousin connections that I want to check out or verify someday in the future. The area looks much neater. I’m really looking forward to starting work to work there (but I have another church meeting tomorrow night).