Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Today is supposedly the official Saint Patrick's Day for this year. You can find out more information from Randy's post. Either way, I still consider the 17th as Saint Patrick's Day, but I just want to wish everyone a happy Saint Pat's Day whether it is on the 15th or 17th of this year.

The Genetic Genealogist Offers New Ebook

The Genetic Genealogist is offering a new and e-book on how to interpret your DNA test results. It is free, and you can find out more here. Enjoy!

Rootsweb To Be Hosted on Ancestry's Domain

Within the past few days, Ancestry has announced that it is moving rootswb.com to its address domain. I first noticed Ancestry's announcement on its Weekly Journal blog. From what I have read on other blog articles, some genealogists are not happy with this move. The primary concerns these genealogists have is with the length of the URL and with the possibility that Ancestry will resell the data on websites hosted by rootsweb.

To be honest, I am not thrilled by Ancestry's move. I am still wary of Ancestry's actions since the internet biography debacle of last year. I am a bit suspicious of Ancestry's motives for moving rootsweb; I still feel as though there are other motives not mentioned in that announcement. I'm probably not the only one who feels this way. To be honest, I did not have a problem with Ancestry's placement of advertisements on rootsweb, if that was a way for Ancestry to keep rootsweb information free. What I am worried is that Ancestry might one day decide not to keep rootsweb free by claiming the volunteer-donated information as their data and thereby justifying charging for that data.

Other genealogists have written articles with their feelings, and you can read them here:

• Randy Seaver's Post
• Ancestry Insider's Post
• Dear Myrtle's Post

Another History Blog Added!

Today I have added another history blog. The blog added is:

• This Day ... In Jewish History

I first learned about this blog from Schelly Dardashti's post. You can find this and other history blogs on the lower right side. Any suggestions for other genealogy or history blogs are welcome.

Regrets and Actions To Be Proud Of ...

For the past few days genealogy bloggers have been blogging about their research regrets and successes. These posts were started when Randy wrote about his regrets (and then later successes) and footnoteMaven including her successes with her regrets. After reading several of the posts, I've decided to write about my regrets and successes.

So, what are my three regrets? Well ...

1. Not interviewing my maternal grandpa - This is my biggest regret, as I never really asked about his side of the family, his childhood or military service during World War Two. I think the best time to have asked him questions would have been when I was between 8 and 11 years old. (I had to do a family tree project when I was 11. I should have asked more questions then.) He has now passed away, so I can't ask him now.
2. Visiting cemeteries before going to the library - The first time I went to do research in Saint Joseph County, I wasted about three hours of research time searching for the burial places of my ancestors. I was with my grandparents, and we were trying to find the cemeteries that my grandparents had visited about twenty years before with my grandfather's aunt. Obviously, we were not successful with our search at that time. We ended up arriving at the library in Three Rivers with only having enough time to do research for an hour. If we had gone to the library first, we probably would have been able to find the graves much sooner.
3. I have a few other regrets, but compared to the two above regrets, they are fairly minor, and I can still find the information. (These regrets primarily have to do with not paying attention to the details at the time I read my day's research.)

My three greatest successes are:

1. Reading a how-to-do genealogy book first - My greatest success is probably having read how to genealogy research first, before I actually even attempted to start digging for answers. I think this action has saved me from making many major mistakes that can befall a novice genealogist.
2. Interviewing my three surviving grandparents - I think asking my other three grandparents what they knew or remembered about our family's history was one of the best steps I could have taken. Many of my first "leads" came from interviewing my grandparents.
3. Citing my sources from the beginning - I think keeping or writing notes on where I found a record has been a great success. There have been a couple of times that writing done the location of a source has helped me in double-checking my notes. (A couple times, I mistranscribed a record.)

Well, those are my regrets and successes. I really don't have that many in either category as I have only been doing research now for about four-and-a-half years.

Second Edition of Where Were You? Carnival Posted!

The second edition of the Where Were You? Carnival has been posted. You can read it here. The topic for the next edition is Where Were You (ie. ancestors) in the Civil War?

And Some More Genealogy Blogs Added!

I have added some more genealogy blogs today. The blogs added are:

• Arlene H Eakle's Genealogy Blog
• Arlene Eakle's Virginia Genealogy Blog
• The Guilford Genealogist Blog
• Twigs and Branches
• Fra Norge til Minnesota ...

You can find these and other genealogy blogs on the lower left side of the page. Any suggestions of other history and genealogy blogs are welcome.

Technology Lessons Learned ...

Yesterday, I happened to read one of the quick tips on Ancestry's blog. Of course, I did not read this article without a little bitterness? Why? Well, my computer crashed yesterday afternoon. I did not lose any files except for a few computer programs, but the worst part about this incident was that my computer was new. (I just got this laptop for Christmas.) I'm not sure what exactly caused the crash, but I was finally able to fix it after 8 and half hours. Unfortunately, I had not backed my computer up, so I could not use the roll back option on my computer. (Actually there are two different back-up programs on my computer: one with windows and the other with the company that made the laptop.) So, what did I have to do? I had to go back to the factory settings of my computer and reset it. Needless to say, after fixing my computer, I backed it up.

So, what did I learn? Well, always back-up your computer, even if it is new. I hadn't backed up my laptop because it was new, and that was my mistake. It could have been worse for me. I did not lose files because I already keep my school work and other files on flash drives, so I did not lose those. (Of course, it is always a good idea to back up those files to a CD.) So, please learn from my mistake and to take the time to back up your computer.

Baby Names ...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has challenged other genealogy bloggers to a baby names meme. Specifically he asked, "If you had a chance to name your children again, what names would you choose to honor your ancestors?" Well, I can't write from the vantage of renaming children as I have never had children, but I guess I could do it from the vantage point of, if I might ever have children.

So, if had to choose possible names, these would be my favorite names from the list of my ancestors and their siblings:

• Benjamin - (I have to be careful with one, as I've named my dog, Ben. I don't want my child to feel as though he was named after my dog, but I really do like the name.)
• John - (A common name, I realize, but it is the name of a few of my ancestors and their brothers.)
• William
• Samuel
• Henry
• Adam
• Peter
• Anna
• Emma

Okay, I realize I didn't list as many names for girls. To be honest, I haven't really thought about naming children as I am young. I'm not sure if I would name any of my children after any of my ancestors. The only name that I really like from the list is Benjamin; the other names are just okay, as they are common. I'm not sure what I would name my children. Maybe, I should come up with a list of names I would not give to my children. How about a meme spin-off of this meme? Do you have a list of names that you would never give your children?

Results of This Past Month ...

It has been a month since I signed up for Google Analytics' tracking of this blog. So, what did I learn? Well, I learned that many people from around the world read my blog. The top ten (there many more countries that visitors are from) countries of where readers had visited - in order from highest to lowest, - are:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Israel
5. Australia
6. India
7. Colombia
8. Poland
9. Finland
10. Ireland

The top ten states in the United States that visitors have come from are:

1. Michigan
2. California
3. New York
4. Mississippi
5. Illinois
6. Indiana
7. Ohio
8. Massachusetts
9. New Jersey
10. Texas

Well, those are the top ten. Again, there were many more states and countries that visitors came from, but I only chose to list the top ten in the list. To all of my readers, I just want to say thank you for reading my blog.

Places On My Bucket List ...

Over the past few days, a meme started by Larry Lehmer of Passing It On has been going around the genealogy blogs. In his post, Larry asked, "What places do you want to visit before dying?"

So, what three places do I want to visit before I die? Well, here are three ancestral areas that I want to visit:

1. Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania - Well, I want to be able to visit and do research in that county as my ancestors lived there. (Of course, I don't know how long and in all of the townships which they lived.)
2. United Kingdom and Ireland (Great Britain) - I'd actually like to visit, so that I can do research this time and remember the visit. (Yes, I visited, but I was a baby at that time.) As my ancestors lived in various places in Great Britain, it is easier for me to just list the names of the countries.
3. Germany - I have been to Germany before (and I remember this trip!), but I haven't been to the locations where my ancestors lived. As I don't know all of the locations where my ancestors lived in Germany, I can only list Germany at the moment.

Well, those are my three places. I would list more, but I was only supposed to list three places for this meme. (Of course, there are other places I would like to visit that are not related to my genealogy.)

Another Genealogy Blog Added!

Today I have added another genealogy blog. The blog added is:

• Haplogroup H

I learned about this blog from Jasia's post. You can find this and other genealogy blogs on the lower left side of the page. Any suggestions for other history or genealogy blogs are welcome.