77th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 77th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on:

"Pony Pictures! This is your chance to show off those pony pictures in your family album. Did you ride your first pony at the state fair or on a farm? Did you have to sit on the back and hold on to your older brother? Was your pony real or a rocking horse? Got any pictures of other family members on ponies? Show us the cowboys and cowgirls in your family and tell us the stories to go along with them. Giddyup pony! The deadline for submissions is August 15."

Enjoy!

76th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 76th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on "As human beings, our very existence is proof of the survival skills, faith, or just plain luck our ancestors possessed in order to persevere through millenia of disasters: epidemics, wars, pestilences, famines, accidents, and acts of nature.For the next Carnival of Genealogy, tell about a disaster that one or more of your ancestors lived through: Did they survive a hurricane, flood, tornado, train wreck, sinking ship, plague, genocide, explosion, mine collapse, or some other terrible event? How did they survive? Research the details of the disaster and explain how it affected your ancestor (guilt, fear, faith, gratitude, etc.), your family's history, and even yourself! Tip: Check out GenDisasters and historical newspapers to get more details about the event. The deadline for submissions for the next edition is August 1 and it will be hosted by Miriam at AnceStories." Enjoy!

Data Back-Up Day: My Experience with Data Loss

As you may of may not remember, about nine months ago, I experienced a major loss in my genealogy data when I had a problem with my flash drive, and a few months before that incident, I experienced another close call with data loss when my computer crashed. So, I am no stranger to experiencing data loss.

So, what have I done since my two experiences with data loss? Well, I have burned CDs of my photos and school work that were on my flash drives, in addition to keeping the files on my flash drives. I have also burned family history information on to CDs. To prevent any data loss that might occur as a result of a computer crash, I have also backed up my files on my laptop, and I have burned the files of my most important applications and drivers onto three CDs. In short, I've made sure that I've backed up my data onto CDs so that I have a back-up in case I experience something similar to has already happened. I think I have done as much as I can, but I do appreciate any further advice on how to protect my data from loss. Thanks.

A Little Update on That Michigan History Article ...

I just want to give everyone an update on the history article for Michigan that I was going to post on this blog. I am unsure if I will actually post an article because I have decided to turn this idea into a book, but I might post something. At the moment, I have just begun to do research on the topic, and I don't know when I will finish my research. I might post some more updates on the topic in the future. I just thought I would let everyone know.

Speaking Of the Mississippi River Flood of 1927 ...

I could not help but notice the brief discussion on the Mississippi River Flood of 1927 that has occurred within the past day or so. Why? Well, one of the reasons is that this flood was talked about briefly in one of my classes a couple of weeks ago when the class was studying about floods. Plus, I read a book on the flood a couple years. But my interest was mostly sparked by a couple of blog posts. One of the two posts that I happened to notice was a post on West Carroll Parish, Louisiana. The other post was on The Ancestry Insider.

So, why am I writing this? I thought I would mention an excellent book on the 1927 Mississippi River Flood in case someone wanted to do some more reading on the flood. The book I read a couple years ago was Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America by John M. Barry. (This is the same author who wrote The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History, another excellent book.) The first half gives background on the different attempts made to control the flooding of the Mississippi River prior to the 1927n flood, while the second half of the book is on the flood and its aftermath. The author also writes about how the flood changed the policies of flood management of the federal government, and how it affected the 1928 presidential election. In addition, he also writes about how the flood changed the demographics of northern cities like Chicago. If you are interested in the history of the Mississippi River Valley, I believe this one book you should read.

Another Lesson Learned the Hard Way ...

As you might have remembered, in March, I posted an article on the importance making sure that one backs up his or her information after my computer crashed. Well, I'm really embarrassed to mention this, but I did not completely learn my lesson the first. No, my computer did not crash this time. Instead, my genealogy information was accidentally erased from the flash drive I had it on yesterday. I was trying to fix a problem with my flash drive, and everything on the drive was completely erased. So, now, I'm going to have to reinstall the family tree maker and re-enter all of the information that I have been working on for the past four years. Plus, I'll have to rescan some pictures that I did not add to my other flash drive the last time. Oh, well. I will definitely, though, make sure I back-up the information on to another device or program after I redo everything. If you have information on a flash drive, make sure you back it up on something else so that you do not have to redo work.

And More Great Lakes Books - Shipwrecks!

As I promised earlier, here is a couple of books on shipwrecks of the Great Lakes:

• True Tales Of The Great Lakes by Dwight Boyer
• Shipwrecks Of The Lakes by Dana Thomas Bowen
• Ghost Ships, Gales & Forgotten Tales: True Adventures on the Great Lakes by Wes Oleszewski

Of course there many other books written by the authors above and many other authors, including Frederick Stonehouse. Enjoy!

Earthquake? ... Freaky!

I just happened to read Thomas' post about an earthquake that occurred earlier this morning in West Salem, Illinois. I'm about a three-hour car drive northeast of Chicago, so I'm sure someone felt the earthquake in my area. I didn't feel anything, but then, I was sound asleep. (Of course, I woke up at 6:30 this morning, so it is entirely possible that that was woke me up and I didn't realize it.) One of things that I thought about after reading Thomas' post was about the New Madrid fault line that is supposed to be somewhere around the Mississippi River area (and Saint Louis?). Plus, I find it freaky that this is the anniversary for the great 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.

(The last time that I can remember an earthquake reaching Michigan was back around 1998-1999, and at the time I was living in the Metro-Detroit area. I definitely felt that one as it occurred in the afternoon. That earthquake was also at least a 5.0 earthquake, but the earthquake started in Pennsylvania.)

I happened to take a look at Fox News report on the earthquake, and it indicated that people as far as away as 450 miles from West Salem were able to feel the earthquake. The area I am in is definitely well in range for one to feel the earthquake, so it is entirely plausible that someone felt it in my area.