New Poll Created!

I've created a new poll in order to determine how many of my readers are new to genealogy. I'm trying to figure out if posting articles on to how-to-do genealogy would be interesting to my readers. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

Another Twist To The Postmortem Photo ...

I just happened to notice that an update to the postmortem photos articles has been posted at Shades Of The Departed. You can read it here. Enjoy!

What on Earth? This Is A Stupid Lawsuit ...

I just happened to read Randy and the Ancestry Insider's posts on the lawsuit filed by TGN (the company that owns Ancestry.com) against the maker of the Legacy Family Tree. Ancestry claims that Legacy has infringed upon the copyright of Ancestry's Family Tree Maker. I realize that copyright infringements are very serious, but from looking at the different boxes for the software, it appears to my layman's judgement that the lawsuit is petty. (I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not an expert. This is just my opinion.)

To me, the legacy box does not share very much in common with Ancestry's Family Tree Maker boxes. The Family Tree Maker boxes have a branch with leaves of a certain color, and each color is different for three editions of the Family Tree Maker. The Legacy box, however, only has a orange maple leaf on the box. (That is, if you look at Ancestry Insider's picture of the box.) If you look at the picture in Randy's post, however, the box does not look a bit like the boxes for Ancestry's software. Of course, that is just one of the aspects mentioned on the Ancestry Insider's post that I thought I would mention.

From a public relations standpoint, I think this lawsuit was a mistake for Ancestry. This lawsuit only makes Ancestry appear more of a money-grubbing company. I think this lawsuit will only drop Ancestry's approval rates drop even more among its dissatisfied customers. Of course, that is just my opinion.

So, what do you think? As always, you can leave a comment.

Week of June 15, 2008: More Genealogy and History Blogs Added!

Over this past week or so, I've added a few more new genealogy and history blogs to the lists. I have also relinked to genealogy blogs that I had linked to before. I think I've got all of the blogs listed from before, but I don't completely remember. If I've missed your blog, please let me know. Thanks. (Oh, unless I state where I found these blogs, I have most likely found them listed either in the Carnival of Genealogy of Chris' Blog Finder.) The blogs added are:

• The History Man - (I learned about this blog from Wig-wag's post)
• African-American History & Genealogy in Nashville, Tennessee
• Ahnentafel
• West Country Genealogy
• TwigTalk
• The Guilford Genealogist Blog
• Routes and Roots - discovering South Africa, past and present
• Roanoke Beacon Blog
• Louisiana Genealogy Blog
• Jackson County, Indiana - (I learned about this blog from Harold's post.)
• HistoricalTownMaps Blog
• Forest County Historical Society
• East Coast Genealogy

Well, I think that is all of the new blogs added recently. You can find the genealogy blogs to the left side of the page and the history blogs to the right side of the blog.

11th Shades Of The Departed Guest Column Posted!

The eleventh Shades of the Departed guest column has been posted! The author of this week's column is Susan A. Kitchens, and you can read her column here. Enjoy!

Family History Center Visit 6

I visited the Family History Center earlier today, and I went through the same microfilm as in previous visits. The microfilm for Trippstadt is still on back-order. Anyhow, I was able to find one more person in the microfilm, but I could not find the other three people I was looking for in my previous visit. It may be possible that they were baptized in another church in the area, or that I missed them when I was going through the film. Some of the images are dark and some of the ink on pages has bleed into other pages. Those may be the reasons why. Either way, I can try again, and maybe I'll order another microfilm or two. (I just haven't decided which ones I want.)

An Interesting Article on Hawaii ...

I just happened to notice this article on Hawaii, and I thought I would post a link to it.

So, what so you think? As always, you can leave a comment with your thoughts.

Got An E-mail ...

I just received an e-mail last night from a response I left on a message board over a year ago on a probable ancestor. I'm excited and thrilled! I can't wait to hear back from her! I'll keep you posted. Stay tuned ...

Another Personality Quiz ...

I thought this was a cool quiz, so I decided to take it. Here are my results:

You Are Fall!

Thoughtful Expressive Creative Poetic Smart

What Season Woman Are You?

Of course, I would like to take personality quizzes that relate more to genealogy. So far, I haven't seen too many.

Scanning Photographs ...

For the past few days, I have been scanning old family photographs that my grandma has. Almost all of these photos are photos that I have never seen before. Most of these pictures appear to have been taken in the 1930s and 1940s, and I think many of the pictures are beautiful. These photos were taken by my late great-aunt (who did not have any children), and I consider myself lucky in that she labeled some of the pictures. I also consider myself lucky since she did not glue the pictures onto the pages of the album. (She used paper frame corners to keep the photos in the album.) Unfortunately, she did not label all of the pictures, so there are several that I have no clue who are in the photos.

In addition, many of the photographs have the original negatives behind the photo. I have been debating whether or not to scan in these negatives. Does anyone know if scanning will harm the negatives. Is scanning the negatives in a good idea? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Oops! I Forgot To Post My Thoughts ...

A few days ago, I posted an article and links on postmortem photos, but I forgot to add something. Well, I forgot to include my thoughts on this topic. My apologies to those who were disappointed.

So, what are my thoughts about postmortem photographs? Well, postmortem photographs have struck me as a bit surreal and creepy. I know I did read somewhere else about postmortem photos before footnoteMaven posted her articles on the subject, but I can't remember where or when I read it. The only postmortem photograph that I have seen in my family was a picture of an infant taken sometime in the 1910s. I knew the infant was dead because he was lying in his casket in the photograph. Of course, I also knew who it was from what my grandma had told me. When I first looked at that photograph, it was surreal to me. I could have easily mistaken the baby for a doll, if it were not for the fact that the baby was in the coffin. (Well, the baby was small, so that's why I almost mistook it to be a doll.) Of course, one does not expect to find postmortem photos in their family collections, so it would be very easy for someone to want to believe the deceased was not real. I obviously was not prepared to see a picture of that type, the first time I saw that photo.

None the less, the photograph struck me as hauntingly beautiful in the way all of the objects were arranged in the picture.

50th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 50th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next carnival will be on a family member who had an independent spirit, and will be hosted at Destination: Austin Family. Enjoy!

Update on Irish Seminar

Well, I can't seem to be able to get this seminar. I happened to notice that ancestry said the presentation will be up at 8:00 p.m. tomorrow. I'm not sure what that means, but I couldn't get the presentation to work for me, if it was even presented. I have not received any e-mails to inform me whether or not there were any technical difficulties. Needless to say, I'm a bit frustrated. If someone could tell me whether or not the Irish research web seminar was even presented tonight, that would be nice. Thanks.

Ancestry's Irish Genealogy Research Web Seminar ...

I signed up to take the Irish genealogy web seminar offered by Ancestry.com. It was supposed to start at 8:00 p.m. EST time, but as of 8:30 p.m., the web seminar has not started. If it does start sometime tonight, I will post on the web seminar after it is done. Stay tuned ...

Google Analytics Poll Results!

The results are in, and the poll is now closed. The question for this poll was, "Do you like reading posts on my Google Analytics results?" Five people voted, and the results are:

• Yes - 3 votes
• No - 2 votes

I think I will still keeping posting Google Analytic posts, but only once a month. To those who voted, thank you for voting.

This Makes Me Sick!

Here's an article on an issue that genealogists need to be concerned with: vandalism of cemeteries. It makes me sick and angry to think that there are people out there who would vandalise cemeteries. Why can't people leave the dead people to rest in peace in their graves?

Update On that Lake Ontario Shipwreck ...

As you may remember, I posted an article on the discovery of a shipwreck in Lake Ontario. Well, I just happened to notice that Tim Agazio posted an update to this article. You can read it here.

Summer Reading Challenge: Book Review 4

Well, I have finished reading another book. The book I chose to read was From Front Porch To Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America by Beth L. Bailey (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991). This book falls into the categories of history and women's studies. As the title suggests, the book is on a history of Twentieth Century courtship/dating practices in the United States, but the book only covers practices from the early 1900s to about 1965.

The book is interesting, but I do not believe I would recommend it. The book was obviously written for academia, so I do not believe the book would be of interest to most people. Of course, if someone is doing research into U. S. dating practices of the past, then I would recommend that that person read this book. Outside of that, this is not a book for children as the subject matter is what I consider "adult reading material."

8th Edition of the Cabinet of Curiosities Posted!

The eighth edition of the Cabinet of Curiosities has been posted! You can read it here. Enjoy!

What Do You Want To See?

I'm trying to figure ways to increase the number of readers of my blog, and I was just wondering what types of articles my readers would like to see on the blog. So, What type of subjects or posts do you want to see on this blog? Any suggestions are welcome, and you can leave your suggestions in the comment section. Thanks.

Speaking of Father's Day, Here's An Article ...

I just happened to find an article on yahoo about the origins of Father's Day. You can read it here. (I should mention that the first half of the article relates to Father's Day. The other part has links and statistics that seem a bit negative towards fathers.)

Happy Father's Day!

I just want to wish everyone a happy Father's Day!