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Blogs for the Genealogist

A good way to stay in touch with the genealogy events, research, thoughts, genealogy web pages, genealogical software and just about anything pertaining to genealogy is to read blogs.

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Resource: Tracing Lines
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A good way to stay in touch with the genealogy events, research, thoughts, genealogy web pages, genealogical software and just about anything pertaining to genealogy is to read blogs. Blog is a term for web log. It's actually a website maintained by and individual, corporation, or institution. There are additions to the blog site daily, weekly, monthly and sometimes not very often. Blog can also mean adding to the blog website.

There are millions of blogs on Internet and actually thousands with a genealogy theme. It is difficult to sort through the ones that appeal to you, but it can be done. There are several options for reading the blogs. The ones I enjoy are bookmarked or placed under "favorites" in my browser. Typically my morning begins with a cup of tea, bagel and reading blogs. However, you can do other things to maintain an interest in blogs.

Somewhere on the blog you may see a symbol with RSS in it. By subscribing to RSS feeds (using an RSS reader) you can subscribe for free. The blog will be sent to you by e-mail. Updates are automatic and you can control how you wish to receive them. The RSS reader is free at a variety of places. I recommend you try it out at Google Reader. Go to the usual Google website, http://www.google.com, and check the menu items for the reader. Another similar symbol you may see on the blog is Atom which an alternative to RSS.

To locate blogs with a genealogy theme, I would suggest you begin with Google Blog Search, http://blogsearch.google.com. Do a search simply for genealogy or a combination of words along with "genealogy." This will produce blog postings that are on those subjects or contains all the words you have requested. You can search by the last hour, last 12 hours, last day, past week, past month, anytime (default) or choose the dates. You can also set this for RSS or Atom feeds of receive blog alerts directly from Google.

Another place to search for blogs is at Cyndis List, under the topic Blogs for Genealogy, http://www.cyndislist.com/blogs.htm. This site is broken down by categories of Briefly Defined; General Resource Sites; Hot to Find Blogs & Use Blogs; Locality Specific; Military; Personal Research Blogs; Software & Services for Blogging. Another good location is Genealogy Blog Finder which is located at http://blogfinder.genealogue.com/. This is also listed by categories which are more extensive than those shown on Cyndis List. They also include a category of recently updated.

Now that you have decided to explore the world of genealogy blogs, you need to determine why you want to do this. Are you looking for genealogy news? Are you looking for ideas from the pros? Are you looking for contact with people using specific genealogical software or researching surnames you have in common? Maybe you want to read about all of these things.

For daily information on new developments in genealogical research in a variety of topics, I enjoy ...

Genealogy Blog (Everton Publishers) The Genealogy Blog

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Genealogy Insider (Family Tree Magazine) Genealogy Insider

There are many more out there, so try to select the ones that appeal to you. Whether you have positive or negative opinions about Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com, you will want to stay informed of what they are doing for genealogists. I would suggest ...

Ancestry.com Blog http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/

24-7 Family History Circle http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/

The Ancestry Insider (about Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org)

The Ancestry Insider

You don't have to hire a professional researcher to enjoy and learn from their blogs. There are several that are informative in general areas or specific locales. See if you like these ...

RootDig.com (Michael John Neill) Michael John Neill's Genealogy website

Arlene H. Eakle's Genealogy Blog Arlene H Eakle's Genealogy Blog

The Photo Detective (Maureen Taylor) The Photo Detective Blog

Paula's Genealogical Eclectica (Paula Stuart-Warren) http://www.paulastuartwarren.blogspot.com/

Donna's Genealogy Blog (Donna Moughty) Donna's Genealogy Blog

Genealogy Lines (Ruby Coleman) http://genalines.blogspot.com

There are also blogs just for the fun of genealogy. If you are into scrapbooking your genealogy ... Creative Genealogy, http://creativegenealogy.blogspot.com/. A fun blog for living with genealogists is Growing Up Genealogy at http://growupgen.blogspot.com.

Notice that there are archives at the blog sites that allow you to go back and read blogs by month and year. Some also contain labels which give you an idea of what has been blogged. You can click on those and read specific blogs that are labeled by topic, such as software, sources, etc.

Whether you grab a cup of tea or coffee and decide to spend each morning reading blogs, or get them through an RSS feed, they are going to make your day. You will undoubtedly find something of interest that will keep your genealogical research kindled and going.

Source Information: Tracing Lines, New Providence, NJ, USA: Genealogy Today LLC, 2008.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Genealogy Today LLC.

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