Death Record of Jacob Zinsmeister, 1796

This is a rather unusual death record from my genealogical “collection” with an odd reason for the death. I wish they had newspapers back then – this would have made a rather interesting obituary! The record source is the Kirchenbuch records from the Catholic church in Puch, Bavaria, Germany and details the death of Jacob [...]

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Favorite Genea-Technology Tools

Not so long ago in a galaxy not too far away, the word “genealogist” may not have been associated with the most technology-savvy person.  The image that came to mind may have been more of a bookworm-librarian searching through piles of books and papers  in dusty old archives.  Today, many genealogists are very well versed [...]

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Donna’s Picks, Week of February 17, 2008

Here are some posts that I really enjoyed this week from both genealogy blogs and “other” blogs that had something interested and related to genealogy or at least genea-blogging.  If you missed any, be sure to visit these sites! Brave New Traveler, which is a blog about travel, had an interesting post called “Can Your [...]

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Building a Better Blog

I know what you’re thinking…this gal’s had this blog for six weeks, so what can she tell me about blogging? Well, let me offer my defense in advance. I may have only this particular blog for six weeks, but I’ve also had another one for six months. Between the two I’m using both of the [...]

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Baptism of Jozef Piontkowski

For several months I’ve been corresponding with the Polish State Archives [Archiwum Państwowego] to obtain a copy of a birth/baptismal record for my grandfather’s brother. Why go through the trouble for a collateral ancestor? Because my grandfather was born in Philadelphia and his older brother and sister were born in Warsaw. My finding one of [...]

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Carnival of Genealogy, 42nd Edition

Jasia at Creative Gene has posted the 42nd edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. This edition’s topic was: the best of the best…presenting the iGene Awards 2007! Submitters announced their best blog posts in the following 5 categories: Best Picture Best Screen Play Best Documentary Best Biography Best Comedy Read about all of the submissions [...]

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Tag, I’m It – A Book Review Meme

This isn’t quite genealogy-related, but I love books so it’s fun anyway.  I’ve been tagged by The Virtual Dime Museum for a book meme.  Here are my answers… What issues/topic interests you most–non-fiction, i.e,cooking, knitting, stitching, there are infinite topics that has nothing to do with novels? The non-fiction topics that interest me the most [...]

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New Genealogy Magazine

Well, the news is finally public! Halvor Moorshead is starting a brand new genealogy magazine in addition to Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy. The new magazine is entitled Discovering Family History and will hit the newsstands in April. But, you can view a free “preview” at the website and download a 56-page preview issue in [...]

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Donna’s Picks: Week of February 10, 2008

Here are some posts from genealogy blogs that I really enjoyed this week. If you missed any, be sure to visit these sites! On the UPGS 2008 site, the article “Preparing to visit the FHL” offers some great tips on how to prepare for a visit to the ultimate genealogy library in Salt Lake City. [...]

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If These Walls Could Speak: A German Häuserchronik

An oft-repeated phrase when one enters an old house is “if these walls could speak, the stories they’d tell.” In Germany, it is possible for the walls to speak about the families that lived there for centuries in the form of a book called a häuserchronik. What would you say if I told you there [...]

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Blogger Poem – An Ode to My Lack of Information and Time

Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi, has put out a blogging challenge this week to write a poem. Terry has taken challenges to a new level with this one! So, I’ve done my “homework” as Thomas calls it, and gave a meager attempt. But first, a confession… I admit that I’m an English major with [...]

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Donna’s Picks: Week of February 3, 2008

Here are some posts from genealogy blogs that I really enjoyed this week. If you missed any, be sure to visit these sites! Lee Drew at FamHist writes about several online tools that come in handy for genealogist. “Zoom, Write, and Learn” discusses Google Earth, Live Search Maps, PAF, Google Docs, ZOHO, and Google Books [...]

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