Kidnapped

I've been getting kidnapped quite a bit lately on Facebook. I've always been a fan of Trivial Pursuit, and one of my favorite categories was the blue one (geography). To escape your kidnapper, you must answer a trivia question based on the geographic location in which your kidnapper is hiding out. This is one Facebook application that I really enjoy. I'm in my fourth hideout city at the moment, but I'm sure I'm about to be kidnapped back to Rio de Janeiro at any minute!

Today's Research

Today I used Google books and found a couple of resources that were extremely useful to me on my Rathbun/Rathbone ancestors who lived on Block Island (which appears to be threatened by Hurricane Kyle at the present moment). I found a published listing of those buried on the island. I also found a transcription of a Bible record for the family. The Bible originally belonged to my 6th great grand uncle. It was passed down through several generations before being published in the Register. I did notice something I didn't expect. A search by surname on the Register at the New England Ancestors web site did not produce a hit on this Bible. I was fortunate to locate the entry in the April 1913 issue through Google books. I think the moral of the story is that indexes are not always complete. If you have an opportunity to check another index or do a full text search, do so. You might come up with a "hit" that you would have otherwise missed.

Good News for Vols Fans

Florida lost!

Internet Privacy

Or - Why I didn't participate in the "Getting to Know Me, Getting to Know All About Me" challenge.

I gave an assignment to my classes which they submitted late last week in which they were to "Google" themselves and find out what they could find out about themselves. They were also to check their MySpace and/or Facebook profiles to see what a person just browsing the Web could find out about them. I also gave them links to government databases of various states so that they could check the information available for viewing there.

Many of my students found very little about themselves; others found a great deal of information about themselves or about their families, some of which was disturbing to them.

Any time that I reveal personal information about myself, I am very careful to weigh that and its potential consequences. I'm simply not comfortable putting too much into one post about myself. When I choose to reveal something, I make sure it is something that I'm comfortable revealing and that there is a point to revealing it.

I do not like to blog about living persons. Most of the time such persons remain unidentified by given name in my posts if I find it useful to include a slight mention. Many of you may have noticed that when the carnivals are on topics where I would have to reveal personal information about a living individual that I have not participated in that carnival.

I simply read about too many security breaches involving too much personal information. Take for example a post that has been in the news this last week. Gov. Sarah Palin's email was hacked because of information in a news story about her. Apparently her password was too easy to guess and a hacker cracked into her email account. Those of us here in East Tennessee are far too well acquainted with the story as a student at a nearby university appears to be the chief suspect in the breach.

I do reveal information about myself in the blog, but that information is revealed over a long period of time. I am not criticizing those of you who have chosen to reveal personal information, but I also do not criticize persons who choose to blog anonymously or under a pseudonym. For a long time, I simply signed my articles with "Lori." I ended up signing articles with both first and last name because it became common knowledge because other bloggers revealed my identity. We, as bloggers, need to be sensitive to the privacy of our fellow bloggers as well.

When is the last time you checked to see what personally identifiable information about you was available out on the Internet? Is there enough there that someone could assume your identity if they so chose? If so, you better be studying up on what to do if your identity is stolen! [Class dismissed.]

Review: St. Patrick's Day Shillelagh

Nolan, Janet. The St. Patrick's Day Shillelagh. Illustrated by Ben F. Stahl. Morton Grove, Ill.: Albert Whitman & Company, 2004.

The Irish potato famine forces Fergus' family to immigrate to the United States. Before leaving the old country, Fergus carves a shillelagh which becomes the family's reminder of their family's history through several generations. This is a great book to remind families that their story needs to be heard.

I don't know if this qualifies or not, but I'm submitting it to the Back to School Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture hosted by Small-Leaved Shamrock (details here). Since I have no known Irish ancestry, I don't spend a lot of time in primary sources that deal with the Irish. This children's book, however, was delightful.

Which Musical Instrument Should I Play? - I Already Do

You Should Play the Piano

You are a true music aficionado who loves many musical style and eras. You find music to be an escape. And you'd like to be relaxed and comfortable when you're making it. You're very innovative, and you have a unique way of knowing what may sound beautiful. There's a strong possibility that you could compose some of your own work songs quite easily. While you have a lot of creative energy, you are also serious and conscientious. Your musical talent needs time, practice, and lots of privacy to flourish. Your dominant personality characteristic: your painstaking attention to detail Your secondary personality characteristic: your natural tendency to be whimsical

What Musical Instrument Should You Play?

Carnival of Genealogy - 56th edition - Part II

In part I of the Carnival, you read the individual submissions to our theme of the ten most essential books in your genealogical library. Now, in part II, we will look at the results of our exercise. Listings will be from most often mentioned to those appearing only once in a listing. All books mentioned are worthwhile or they would not have been included on someone's listing!

15 times

Mills / Evidence Explained

8 times

Mills / Professional Genealogy

6 times

Board of Certification for Genealogists / BCG Genealogical Standards Manual



Greenwood / The Researcher's Guide to Genealogy



One could also argue that The Source belongs here. Because of the different authors of different editions, it makes two appearances in the 3 times list.

5 times

Mills / Evidence!: Citation and Analysis for the Family Historian



Rose / Genealogical Proof Standard

4 times

Carmack / Your Guide to Cemetery Research



Eichholz / Red Book



Hansen / The Handybook for Genealogists

3 times

Carmack / Organizing Your Family History Search



Eakle & Cerny / The Source



Hoffman / Polish Surnames



Hone / Land and Property Research in the United States



McGinnis / Michigan Genealogy



Rising / The Family Tree Problem Solver



Shea & Hoffman / In Their Words



Szucs & Luebking / The Source

2 times

Carmack / You Can Write Your Family History


Croom /Genealogist's Companion & Source Book


Croom /Unpuzzling Your Past


Crowe / Genealogy Online


Dollarhide / New York State Censuses and Substitutes


DuMelle / Finding Your Chicago Ancestors


Geyh et al. / French Canadian Sources


Hatcher / Producing a Quality Family History


Hinckley / Your Guide to the Federal Census


Hoffman & Helon / First Names of the Polish Commonwealth: Origins & Meanings


Humphery-Smith / The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers


Morgan / How to Do Everything with Your Genealogy



Morgan / The Official Guide to Ancestry.com


National Genealogical Society / National Genealogical Society Quarterly


Shea & Hoffman /Following the Paper Trail


Sulimierski, Chlebowski & Walewski / Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich


Taylor /Preserving Your Family Photographs


Taylor / Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs


Thorndale & Dollarhide / Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920



One could also argue that The Everything Family Tree Book goes here. Different submitters gave different authors, but it may be the same title. It is listed once under each author in the "1 time" list.

1 time

Abbot / Our Company Increases Apace

Abbot & Abbot / A Genealogical Register of the Descendants of George Abbot, of Andover

Adolph / Tracing Your Family History

Akenson / Some Family

Allen / First Steps in Genealogy

Anderson / The Great Migration Begins (3 v.)

Anderson & Thode / A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Germanic Ancestors

Anderson, Sanborn, & Sanborn / Great Migration: Immigrants to New England (7 v.)

Armbruster / Brooklyn's Eastern District

Association of Gravestone Studies / AGS Field Guides

Baer & Breeze / Finding Indiana Ancestors

Baker / A Guide to Historic Plymouth

Barran / The Stadte-Atlas of Pommern (Pomerania)

Barrons / 301 Polish verbs

Barth / City People

Baxter / In Search of Your British & Irish Roots

Beard & Demong / How to Find Your Family Roots

Beider / A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire

Beider / Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names

Beider / Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Kingdom of Poland

Beider / Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galacia

Bell / Out of This Furnace

Benardo & Weiss / Brooklyn by Name

Bennett / Elaine

Bennett / Nell

Bentz / If I Can, You Can Decipher Germanic Records

Billingsley / Communities of Kinship

Bonnen / Sangre Judia

Boyd / Family Maps of Monroe County, Mississippi

Brandt / Germanic Genealogy

Brown / History of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary of the Woods

Burroughs / Black Roots

Burton-Cruber / Cemetery Markings: Itawamba County, Mississippi

Butler / History of the Town of Groton

Butler / Everyman's Dictionary of Dates

Byrne / The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said

Carmack / Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists

Carmack / A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Immigrant and Ethnic Ancestors

Carmack & Gaunt / Carmack's Guide to Copyright and Contracts

Carter / Searching American Probate Records

Case / The Hollister Family of America

Cerny & Eakle / Ancestry's Guide to Research: Case Studies in American Genealogy

Chambers / Early Germans of New Jersey

Chavez / Origins of New Mexico Families

Chorzempa / Polish Roots

Christensen / Parishes and Registration Districts in England and Wales

Christensen / How Do I Prove It?

Clearfield Progress / A View From . . .

Clemensson & Andersson / Swedish Roots

Clifford / Becoming an Accredited Genealogist

Conwill / The Diary of Henry Jackson Lentz (1819-1869) of Limestone County, Alabama & Itawamba County, Mississippi Covering the Years 1847-1869.

County Dunham Environmental Education Curriculum / Coal Mining in Co. Dunham

Crichton / America 1900

Croom / Unpuzzling Your Past Workbook

Curran, Crane & Wray / Numbering Your Genealogy

Daniel / Genealogical Resources of New Mexico

Darrah / Cartes de Visite in Nineteenth Century Photography

Dearden / The German Researcher, How to Get the Most Out of LDS FHC

Delorme Corp. / Mississippi Atlas & Gazetteer: Topo Maps of the Entire State

Drake / What Did They Mean By That?

Dunkle & Lainhart / The Town Records of Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1647 to 1730

Eismann / Photoshop Masking & Compositing

Eismann & Palmer / Adobe Photoshop Restoration & Retouching

Ellis & Evans / The History of Lancaster County

Esquibel & Colligan / The Spanish Recolonization of New Mexico

Evans / Mother Monroe

Faiguenboim / Dictionary of Sephardic Surnames

Feldblyum / Russian-Jewish Given Names

Filby / Bibliography of American County Histories

Fisiak et al. / Nowy słownik Fundacji Kościuszkowskiej = The new Kosciuszko Foundation dictionary.

Flanders / Atlas of American Migration

Forkner & Dyson / Historical Sketches and Reminsces of Madison County

Franks & Turner / An Itawamba Sampler: A Researcher's Guide to Itawamba County, Mississippi

Fretz / A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Martin Oberholtzer

Gingerich & Kreider / Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies

Gitlitz / Secrecy and Deceit

Gormley & Lord / The Official Guide to Rootsweb.com

Gorr / Jewish Personal Names

Greene County History Book Committee / Historic Greene County, Tennessee, and Its People: 1783-1992

Gronlund / Pioneer Register: Pioneers of British Columbia, Pre 1900

Grover / U. S. News & World Report Stylebook for Writers & Editors

Gutkind / Keep It Real

Gwin / Olden Times Revisited: W. L. Clayton's Pen Pictures

Hagstrom / Hagstrom's Pocket Atlas New York 5 Boroughs

Hakim / The History of US

Harding / Mayflower Families Through 5 Generations: Vol. 3: Family of George Soule

Hartley / The Everything Family Tree Book

Hatcher / Researching Your Colonial New England Ancestors

Heidgerd / The Freer Family

Herber / Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History

Hicks / Adventures of a Tramp Printer,1880-1890

Hill / History of Coshcocton County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, 1740-1881

Hinckley / Locating Lost Family Members and Friends

Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico / Marriages: Socorro 1854-1900, San Ignacio, San Cristobal, San Marcial, La Jolla

Hoes / Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the Old Dutch Church of Kingston, Ulster County, New York, 1660-1809

Holt / Encyclopedia of Etiquette

Hornberger & Hudson / The Historical Atlas of New York City

Howe / Genealogy of the Bigelow Family of America

Hunt / Historical Collections of Coshcocton County, Ohio, 1764-1876

Hunter / Marriages of Coshcocton County, Ohio, 1811-1930

Irwin / Robert Irwin’s Brothers and Sisters and their Families from County Cavan, Ireland to Fenelon Township, Ontario

Jackson / The Encyclopedia of New York City

Jaslan / Wiedza Powszechna Compact Polish and English Dictionary

Jonas / A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Scottish Ancestors

Jones / German-American Names

Kelly / Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire

King / King's Handbook of New York City

Knab / Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore

Kobbe / Kobbe's Guide to New York

Kriter, Kriter, Thompson, & Thompson / Monroe County, Mississippi, Chancery Court Record Index 1821-1900

Labrosse-Purcell / Researching Canadian Uncommon Sources

Lambert / A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries

Lehnhof & Kaiser / Zauberhafter Niederrhein, Eine Farbbildreise durch Landschaft und Geschichte

Lindberg / Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research

Lindsay / Mayflower Bastard

Linkman / The Victorians

Linkman / The Expert Guide to Dating Victorian Photographs

Loveland, Fremont & Loveland / The Genealogy of the Loveland Family in the United States of America from 1635 to 1892

Luthy / Amish in America

Mace / Collector's Guide to Early Photographs

Malka / Sephardic Genealogy

Mann / The Oxford Guide to Library Research

Markham Berczy Settlers Association / A Story of the Markham Berczy Settlers

Markham Historical Society / Markham, 1793-1900

Mautz / Biographies of Western Photographers, 1840-1900

McCulloch / Card Photographs

McCullough / Truman

McCutcheon / The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800s

McWhorter / The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language

Melnyk / Family History 101

Melnyk / The Weekend Genealogist

Menk / Surnames

Merriman / Genealogy in Ontario

Merriman / United Empire Loyalists

Merriman / About Genealogical Standards of Evidence, A Guide for Genealogists

Meyerink / Printed Sources

Millennium Committee / Churches in the Diocese of Dunham

Minert / Deciphering Handwriting in German Documents

Mississippi Department of Transportation / Mississippi Road Atlas

Mokotoff, Sack & Sharon / Where Once We Walked

Moore / A Genealogy of the Descendants of Robert Austin of Kingstown, R.I.

Mullerowa & Zuchowska / Roman Catholic Parishes in the Polish People's Republic in 1984

Murff & Murff / The Descendants of Randolph S. Murff 1784-1955

National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution / Lineages Books of the Charter Members of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution

National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution / DAR Patriot Index

National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution / Catalog of the Seimes Microfilm Collection

New England Historic Genealogical Society / New England Historical and Genealogical Register

Nugent / Cavaliers and Pioneers

O'Laughlin / Co. Kilkenny Ireland, Genealogy & Family History Notes

O'Laughlin / Book of Irish Families Great and Small

Olmstead / New Mexico Spanish & Mexican Colonial Censuses: 1790, 1823, and 1845

Olmstead / Spanish and Mexican Censuses of New Mexico 1750-1830

Palmquist & Kaibourn / Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide

Palmquist & Kaibourn / Pioneer Photographers of the Far West

Pearson / Contributions for the Genealogies of the Descendants of the First Settlers of the Patent and City of Schenectady, from 1662 to 1800

Pfeufer / New Mexico Baptisms: San Miguel de Socorro Church 1821-1853

Philbrick / Mayflower

Poles in Michigan / Poles in Michigan (vol. 1)

Poliniak / When Coal was King

Polking / Writing Family Histories and Memories

Polley & Thornton / Descendants of Richard Thornton

Pols / Family Photographs 1860-1945

Poucher, Terwilliger & Heidgerd / Old Gravestones of Ulster County

Powell / The Everything Family Tree Book

Proko, Kraska & Stickles / The Polish Community of Worcester (Images of America)

Putnam / Genealogy of David Putnam and His Descendants

Putnam / A History of the Putnam Family in England and America

Quillen / Secrets of Tracing Your Ancestors

Rael / Reading, Writing, and Researching for History

Rainer / Your Life as Story

Ramirez Alief et al. / New Mexico Censuses of 1833 and 1845

Reed / Itawamba: A History; Story of a County in Northeast Mississippi

Renick / Genealogy 101

Reynolds / Hudson and Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs

Riemer / The German Research Companion

Rineer / Churches and Cemeteries of Lancaster County

Risley / The Risley Family History

Romano / Per a Una Historia de la Girona Jueva

Rose / Courthouse Research for Family Historians

Rudisill, Sandweiss, & Palmquist / Photographers

Ryan / Irish Records

Sanborn & Sanborn / Vital Records of Hampton, N. H.: to the End of the Year 1900

Sanchez / San Miguel de Socorro, New Mexico: Marriage Records, 1821-1853

Schaefer / The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women's Genealogy

Schickel / The World of Carnegie Hall

Secall i Guell / Els Jueus de Valls

Severa / Dressed for the Photographer

Seversmith / Colonial Families of Long Island, New York and Connecticut

Shanet / Philharmonic

Sherman, Sherman, & Wakefield / Mayflower Families Through 5 Generations: Vol. 13: William
White

Skulnick & Moorshead / 500 Brickwall Solutions to Genealogy Problems

Skulnick & Moorshead / More Brickwall Solutions to Genealogy Problems

Sledge / Monroe County Post Offices: 1827-1950

Smart / Index to Upper Canada Land Books

Smith & Weiser / Trinity Lutheran Church Records

Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Society / Pennsylvania Line

Spector / Encyclopedia of Jewish Life

Spence / Legacy

Sperry / Reading Early American Handwriting

Strangstad / A Graveyard Preservation Primer

Stratton / Applied Genealogy

Stratton / Plymouth Colony

Streidl / Häuserchronik der Stadt Pfaffenhofen a.d. Ilm

Streidl / Stadt Pfaffenhofen a.d. Ilm

Szucs / They Became Americans

Tademy / Cane River

Taylor / The Canadian Genealogical Sourcebook

Taylor / Scrapbooking Your Family History

Thiry & Dolader / El Libro Verde de Aragon

Thornton / New Hope Cemetery, Parham, Monroe County, Mississippi

Thornton / Index to Online Burials in Monroe County, Mississippi

Thornton & Thornton / The Thornton News

Tilden / History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts, 1650-1886

Todd / First Alabama Cavalry USA

Torrey / New England Marriages: Prior to 1700

Treat / The Treat Family, A Genealogy of Trott, Tratt and Treat

Turner / 1850 Census, Itawamba County, Mississippi

Ueland / If You Want to Write- A Book about Art, Independence, and Spirit

Valencia y Valdez et al. / Aqui se comienza

Vrabel / When in Boston

Wakefield / Mayflower Families Through 5 Generations: Vol. 18: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620

Warrilow / Tracing Your Ancestors in Bruce & Grey

Wheeler / Old Homes of Stonington

Wheeler / The History of Stonington, Connecticut

White / Guide to Quebec Catholic Parishes and Published Parish Marriage Records

White / White's Directory of Lincolnshire

Williams & Jaggar / Saving Stuff

Wood / Mayflower Families Through 5 Generations: Vol. 12: Francis Cooke

Woodtor / Finding A Place to Call Home

Wright / Lancaster County Church Records of the 18th Century

Yates / Publish Your Family History

Young & Miles / Itawamba County, Mississippi Families (1836-1986)

Zubatsky / Sourcebook for Jewish Genealogies and Family Histories

The Denison Genealogy

German-English, English-German Dictionary

1864 Atlas of Lancaster County

The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Family Bible information included)

History of Wilsons Mills and the Magalloway Settlements

La Catalunya Jueva

Perpignan: L'histoire des Juifs dans la ville

La Via Judia en Sefarad

The Oxford Companion to United States History

United States Official Postal Guide

The New York Chronology

Deutsche Namenkunde

Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language

Rand McNally Road Atlas

Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus

Oscola Mills

100 Years in Brisbin and Houtzdale

75th Anniversary of Barnesboro

McCutchen Family Trace Newsletter

British Columbia War Memorials: An Index of Names

American Genealogist

Chicago Manual of Style

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

We also had a few non-specific resources mentioned such as a good history of the United States, an historical atlas of the United States, a good regional cultural history of whichever area in which you are researching, a cultural or social anthropology book, a current road atlas of the United States, and the Internet.

Call For Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the COG will be: I read it in the news! Newspapers can be a wonderful source of family history information. Share some aspect about your family history that you learned about in a newspaper. Articles, advertisements, obituaries, classified ads, photos... all are fair game if they appeared in a newspaper. What did you learn about your family from this information? Was the information accurate? How did you learn about this information... online search? Perusing old newspapers? A clipping saved by a relative? Fill us in on your family scoops... who in your family was in the news? The deadline for submissions is October 1st. The next edition will be hosted at the Creative Gene blog.



To All COG Participants: Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blogcarnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Introductions for your articles will not be provided for you due to the volume of articles submitted. Thank you!

Carnival of Genealogy - 56th edition - Part I

The 56th Carnival of Genealogy will be published in two parts. For this edition of the carnival, bloggers were supposed to list the ten books in their genealogical libraries that they find absolutely essential. Almost all of us could probably come up with many more titles, but there really was a method to my madness, and I discovered that genealogy bloggers are just like my college students. Some follow the directions better than others! Part I consists of the links to the individual submissions. Part II is a compilation of the results of those submissions. Which titles are valued most by geneabloggers? You'll see the results. The call for submissions for the 57th edition will be posted with each part of the Carnival so that it can be easily found later.

Robert Baca presents 10 Essential Books in My Genealogy Library posted at The Baca / Douglas Genealogy and Family History Blog. His list focuses on New Mexico Hispanic research.

Terry Thornton presents Ten Books I Use Most Frequently in Writing Hill Country posted at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi. He explains his entry: "Because I am not a genealogist, I own few reference books in that field. There are, however, a group of books and references materials I use on a daily basis to write about the hill country of Monroe County, Mississippi. This article takes a look at each of those ten books, unpublished documents, digital files, and CDs."

Myrt :) presents 10 essential books in my genealogy library posted at DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog. The first few books in her list are some of the ones that I expect to see on a lot of lists.

Jasia presents 10 Essential Books for Polish, Michigan, and Detroit Genealogical Research posted at Creative Gene. She says: "I can't imagine doing Polish and Michigan genealogy research without these books. They are largely responsible for the success I've had with my research. I owe a debt of gratitude to the authors. See if there aren't some books here that would help you with your research! "

Bob Franks presents Ten Essential Research Books in My Personal Library posted at Itawamba History Review: The Itawamba Historical Society. In describing his choices, he states: "As most of my research relates to Mississippi and Itawamba County in particular, most of my essential research books, both genealogy and history, pertain to Itawamba County, Mississippi. ."

Midge Frazel presents Slate & Sandstone: New England Books posted at Granite in My Blood. Midge says, "My state trio of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island ancestors makes using research materials in print a necessary part of my day despite my always-wired lifestyle. My list reflects compiled genealogies and gravestone studies with a splash of research tools. "

Linda Stienstra presents Seriously? My Ten Essential Genealogy Books? Only Ten? posted at From Axer to Ziegler. Linda says, "I decided to just concentrate on the essential books for Lancaster County research. I have a lot of essential books, but some of them cover all research, and some of them cover other areas. Since I live in Lancaster County and concentrate my research her, I picked Lancaster County books. Obvious choice for me. " Since I had Amish ancestors in Lancaster and Berks Counties, I have actually used several of the titles she mentioned.

While this next post doesn't really fit our call, it is of interest to many of us. Fiona King presents 100 Awesome Blogs for History Junkies posted at Best Colleges Online. Check out her list.

Julie Cahill Tarr presents GenBlog - 10 Essential Genealogy Books posted at GenBlog. Julie includes several general titles as well as some specific to Irish and German ethnicity.

Sheri Fenley presents 10 Books I Have Used in the Last 6 Months posted at The Educated Genealogist. I'm sure you'll all get a smile when you find out the theme of this edition of the Carnival helped Sheri!

Janet Iles presents Janet the Researcher's 10 essential genealogy books posted at Janet the researcher. She has several selections that reflect her interest in Canadian genealogy and several on writing family histories.

Bill West presents ON MY BOOKSHELF posted at West in New England. Bill describes his ten choices as "books that either have given me information on my ancestors or insights on the times in which they lived."

Schelly Talalay Dardashti presents Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog: Ashkenazi, Sephardi: Essential Jewish genealogy books posted at Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog. Schelly says that these are "essential books for Jewish genealogy." She tells us about the challenges of those who have and don't have Eastern European ancestry and presents two lists, one for each of these groups (Ashkenazi and Sephardi genealogy), which present different sources, languages and challenges.

Laura presents 10 Favorites from My Genealogy Bookshelf posted at Life at the Home20. Her selections are mainly general genealogical books and case studies.

Stephen J. Danko presents Ten Essential Books in My Genealogy Library posted at Steve's Genealogy Blog. Stephen's titles include some of interest to those researching Polish and French Canadian ancestry.

Wendy Littrell presents Books for Genealogy « All My Branches Genealogy posted at All My Branches Genealogy. Wendy's list includes books from family histories to county histories. She says, "I return to them time and again and learn something new each time."

Donna Pointkouski presents 10 Essential Books in My Genealogical Library posted at What's Past Is Prologue. Her list includes many on researching Polish genealogy.

Craig Manson presents Ten Books Essential for Genealogists: Some ?Different? Thinking posted at GeneaBlogie. Craig describes his selections this way: "Everybody can probably agree on the top books by the top authors in our field. But how about books that add context and broaden our perspectives? Here they are." Craig isn't quite as specific on exact titles, but he does describe some books that all genealogists should use in their research.

Msteri presents 10 Essential Books in my Genealogy Library posted at Heritage Happens. Her selections include a couple of fictional titles with a setting very important to her research. Because there is truth in the mix, she includes these in her top ten.

Kathryn Lake Hogan presents Books on My Shelf; Books on My Desk posted at LOOKING4ANCESTORS. Kathryn at LOOKING4ANCESTORS says "I have a large wall unit in my office which houses a lot of things including my genealogy books. Often, I have books laying open or stacked on my desk as well. Does this count as a library?" Be sure to check out her list at "Books on My Shelf;, Books on My Desk".

P. Taylor presents What's on my nightstand? Why my ten favorite genealogy books of course! posted at Taylorstales-Genealogy. She includes quite a few titles focusing on online research and some Midwestern research titles. She even mentions a title that she'd love to obtain.

Lidian presents The Virtual Dime Museum: Ten Indispensible Books posted at The Virtual Dime Museum. Lidian describes her choices this way: "These are the ten books that are either on my desk, acessible through Heritage Quest (and therefore also on my desk, in a way) or nearby - the ones I turn to constantly as references for history and genealogy."

Thomas Macentee presents Destination: Austin Family: My Ten Essential Genealogy-Related Books posted at Destination: Austin Family. Thomas says he "cares more for e-books than actual tomes and seeks them out whenever possible." He shares his top 10 and tells us about a new, free, on-line tool that instantly formats your source info for you!

Becky Wiseman presents The Indispensable Bookshelf posted at kinexxions. Becky says, "It is truly embarrassing to have to admit this, but I do not have 10 genealogy-specific reference books on my bookshelf! Gasp! It's true though. That said, there are several very useful items on my indispensable bookshelf."

My own entry is Ten Indispensable Books in My Genealogical Library. I include five general sources and five regional or ethnic ones.

Bob Kramp presents Representatives of Essential Books in my Genealogical Library posted at Life's Journey. Bob says, "I present several books in my personal library which I use to expand the stories of my ancestors in both a historical and geographical context. The are not so much general reference books in genealogy, as one-of-a-kind books and pamphlets that will be difficult to obtain some day." He gave us a few more than ten!

M. Diane Rogers presents Ten Genealogical Books I Can't Do Without - Carnival of Genealogy posted at CanadaGenealogy, or, 'Jane's Your Aunt'. She says, "I wish there were 10 books written about my ancestors! Although there aren't, I do have a good number of books at home and I use libraries a great deal, especially the British Columbia Genealogical Society's Walter Draycott Library. Here are a few I rely on or re-read often. I'm cheating a bit here with the #10 for my list; I'd have another 10 I'd recommend, especially for Canada or British Columbia. Quite a few of these are Canadian books - but only four cover Canadian topics - and some of those IRWINS did live in the United States."

Elizabeth O'Neal presents Tops in my Genealogy Library posted at Little Bytes of Life. Elizabeth's featured selections focus on American, French-Canadian, and Irish research, genealogical standards, and resources for filling out those DAR applications!

Jessica Oswalt presents 10 Essential Genealogy Books That I Have Or Wish I Have posted at Jessica's Genejournal. She includes books she owns and books she wishes she owned.

Dru Pair presents My Ten Favorite How-To Genealogy Books posted at Find Your Folks. She focuses on "how-to" books.

Randy Seaver presents 10 Essential Books in my Genealogy Library posted at Genea-Musings. Randy includes ten basic titles and a baker's dozen of regional books.

footnoteMaven presents 10 Essential Books In My Genealogy Library X 4 + 6 posted at footnoteMaven. Her description says it all, "I tried. I really tried, but I'm just not good at following directions!" She groups her selections into the categories of research, writing, history, and photography.

Miriam Robbins Midkiff presents Miriam's Ten Essential Genealogy Books posted at AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors. She lists only books she owns.

Call For Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the COG will be: I read it in the news! Newspapers can be a wonderful source of family history information. Share some aspect about your family history that you learned about in a newspaper. Articles, advertisements, obituaries, classified ads, photos... all are fair game if they appeared in a newspaper. What did you learn about your family from this information? Was the information accurate? How did you learn about this information... online search? Perusing old newspapers? A clipping saved by a relative? Fill us in on your family scoops... who in your family was in the news? The deadline for submissions is October 1st. The next edition will be hosted at the Creative Gene blog.



To All COG Participants: Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blogcarnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Introductions for your articles will not be provided for you due to the volume of articles submitted. Thank you!

Ten Indispensable Books in my Genealogical Library

First up on my list is Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace. This title is a very updated and expanded edition of her earlier work Evidence! Citation and Analysis for the Family Historian which had long been on my top ten list. I decided not to include the second title in my top ten list, but please understand that I really would not want to be without either work or without the Quick Sheet which provided an interim update for the earlier title. When I'm traveling and don't want to lug along the larger volume, I still take the smaller book and the quick sheets and have most of the citation styles I need for that trip.

I use William Thorndale and William Dollarhide's book, Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920, for a quick reference on historical county boundaries. It definitely belongs in my top ten in terms of usage.

Another general title that I use quite a bit is Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources. I actually own the second edition which was edited by Eichholz. I really do need to update my edition because I'm aware of several errors as well as many changes because of natural disasters. I debated whether or not I should include this book of The Handybook for Genealogists in my top ten. I have both books, but I really do use the "Red Book" more so I decided to include it as my "go-to" source for that type of information. I own a hard copy of the "Red Book" as well as a CD version.

E. Wade Hone's Land & Property Research in the United States is also among my most treasured volumes. This is one of the most comprehensive volumes on researching land records available.

Christine Rose's Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case is a title that I often recommend to people, especially those who seem to be settling for sources that are very far removed from the original.

For the rest of my top ten, I am going to move on to sources that are helpful to me because of my own research interests.

I want to include two titles here that are wonderful for those of us with Amish genealogy. The first of these is David Luthy's The Amish in America: Settlements that Failed, 1840-1960. Luthy is a well-known Amish historian who researched a lot of Amish settlements that were rather short-lived. As my Amish ancestors lived in many of these settlements, I am able to find a lot of great background information on the settlements.

The second of the Amish research titles is Hugh F. Gingerich's Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies. While one still needs to independently document the information in this book, this is a great starting place for Amish research. Gingerich provides the trees for numerous families. There are errors in the data, but a careful researcher can still gain quite a bit by using Gingerich's work as a starting place. There are also some source hints in some of the footnotes.

My eighth book in the top ten is Clarence A. Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700. This is a must have source for anyone with Colonial New England ancestry. However, anyone using it will also want to have Melinde Lutz Sanborn's Third Supplement to Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Even though they are technically two titles, I'm counting them as one for the purposes of this list.

For my ninth title, I am choosing Nell Marion Nugent's Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants. I own volumes one through eight of this indispensable tool for researching Virginia genealogy.

I'm down to my final pick. This is going to be a tough call because I have so many books that are worthy of inclusion. I can come up with books in so many locations that I use a lot when I'm doing research; however, I'm going to choose another New England title for my tenth selection, simply because I've been focusing more on those lines recently.

My last pick is Vital Records of Hampton, N.H.: to the End of the Year 1900 by George Freeman Sanborn and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. It's a two volume set. I had so many ancestors who lived in Hampton for awhile that I've found these volumes extremely helpful.

I chose to use only titles for which I have hard-cover editions. There are several electronic titles that I use constantly.

Sticker Shock at the Pump

Gas prices went up by $1/gallon today in East Tennessee. Prices gradually crept up all day long. I paid $4.50/gallon after work (after I found a gas station that still had gas). People who had gone out at lunch in our "greater Knoxville gas run" said that they waited as long as 45 minutes in line in the small town in which I work. I can't imagine what the lines were like in Knoxville itself. They were predicting prices would climb to $5 before tonight, but when I came in just a few minutes ago, the prices were still $4.50/gallon at the stations that had gas. There were quite a few stations without gas. We are fortunate that Knoxville is home to Pilot Corporation. They sent out trucks to other areas to bring gas to the Knoxville area. They have also managed to get a pipeline shipment scheduled for Sunday evening rather than having to wait until Tuesday. From what I hear, it is the independent stations that are really having supply issues. Of course, the "run" on gas didn't help matters. I had a half tank so I just topped mine off, but it costs a fortune when gas is that high! It is time to sit at home or to return to my Amish roots and get a horse and buggy! Since it would cost too much to mow the grass, I'd just have to be really creative to get that horse to graze in just the right spots!

Great Great Grandma Nancy

She didn't exactly "Smile for the Camera," but here is my Great Great Grandmother Nancy Jane Cockrell Hester donning her "granny hat." She is my maternal grandmother's father's mother.

Carnival of Genealogy #55 Is Posted

Jasia over at Creative Gene has posted the 55th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The theme is "Show and Tell."

Many of you may have noticed that I'll be hosting the 56th edition. The deadline for submissions is September 15. The topic is "10 essential books in my genealogy library." It was actually inspired by a meme that was going around the book bloggers this summer called the "Top 10 Books I Can't Live Without." It will be interesting to see which books each of us find to be our most used books. I suspect that many of us will have a few similar ones, but I also suspect that some of us will have very different ones because of our specific research interests. For example, some of you focus heavily on one ethnic group. You are likely to have at least one title that is indispensable to you in researching that interest. Someone who lacks that ethnicity will likely find something else more useful. It's interesting to browse various genealogists' libraries on LibraryThing, but sometimes when you are seeking one volume on a topic, you wish that you had some way of knowing which title that person thinks is the best. [Most of us are guilty of not rating or reviewing the books we initially cataloged because we were focused on adding all the titles. Hopefully more of us will add reviews and ratings to assist other researchers in determining the worth of a source.] I think it will be fun to see the lists of books created.

Chickamauga Celebrates 145 Years!

I saw this on the news tonight and thought it was worth mentioning. It's the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga, the Confederacy's last major Civil War victory. They are celebrating September 19-21. The park is just south of Chattanooga in Walker County, Georgia. You can see a schedules, a brief battle history, maps, directions, lodging information, and much more at http://www.battleofchickamauga.net/. Did I mention that Vice President Dick Cheney, a descendant of a Chickamauga soldier, is the special keynote speaker?

Tuesday Thingers - September 2, 2008

For those who wonder, Tuesday Thingers is a weekly meme for users of LibraryThing who blog. Question from Boston Bibliophile:

Members who have your books. Do you ever look at this feature? Do you use it to make LT friends, or compare notes? There are three tabs- weighted, raw, and recent. “Weighted,” which means “weighted by book obscurity and library size” is probably the least self-explanatory of the three, whereas “raw” and “recent” are more so. Do you get any kind of use out of this feature?

I do look at the future. I have actually found some fellow genealogists that I know through the said feature. I will almost always browse the libraries of my fellow genealogists to see if they have some book of which I'd been previously unaware. I then might try to order that book if it is something that I really really need for my personal research or I might add it to a wish list to order. My Amazon.com wish list is getting really really long thanks to LibraryThing.

I do pay attention to all three tabs, but I probably pay the most attention to weighted simply because it is the default. When I get bored with seeing the same folks in the list, I check the others. I really do like the "recent" feature because it shows new LibraryThing folks with similar interests or people who've recently been adding a lot of books with similar libraries.

My largest categories are history and genealogy, cookery, and mystery. The people who tend to show up at the top of my list are fellow mystery lovers. I get a lot of genealogists in the top 50, but it is understandable that they are not at the very top of my list because of the size of my collection and because genealogists tend to collect heavily in places that are important to their own personal research. I'm really glad to have the matches I do have with genealogists.

Do I add them to my friends? No. Most of the time I just add them to my interesting libraries or to my private watch list if I really want to keep track of their new additions. I have added very few recently because we now get automatic recommendations based on the top 50 libraries in our weighted score. I have corresponded with a few people, but it's pretty rare.

Show & Tell: A Poem

My mother kept a scrapbook in her teenage years. This poem entitled "Put My Little Shoes Away" was found in its pages with a notation that her grandmother (Mary Ann Harris Hester) had given it to her. A quick "Google search" revealed that this poem was later put to music and recorded by the Everly Brothers, Hank Snow, Bill Monroe, and others. It's really a rather sad song about a dying child. One wonders if this poem was special to my great grandmother because she lost her child Lillie Faye, my grandmother's twin, in December 1897 when she was only nine months old.

Watching Gustav

I'm glued to the television today. I'm thankful this one was not as bad as Katrina, but the tornadoes in south Mississippi and Alabama where I have several family members are scary, to say the least. My prayers go out to everyone in the areas that have been damaged by Gustav.

Review: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

Penney, Stef. The Tenderness of Wolves. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007.

This is a well-written novel that opens with the discovery of Laurent Jammet's body and the disappearance of Francis Ross. As parties leave the trading post of Dove River for parts north, each member has his/her own agenda. This tale is told through the perspective of many narrators although the word "I" is generally associated only with Mrs. Ross, the mother of Francis. Coming of age issues such as sexuality are explored, not always with the culturally acceptable outcome. Other social issues such as alcoholism, infidelity, and domestic violence also make an appearance in this historical mystery set in the 1860s in northern Ontario. There is a lot of time for reflection during the course of the novel. The competitive nature of the fur trade business is shown by the way that one company tried to silence the competition, particularly when those who began the rival business were seen as "traitors." While the main mystery was resolved satsifactorily, I still had a lot of unanswered questions at the close of the novel. I don't know if the author will explore some of these questions in future sequels or not, but I would not mind revisiting Dove River and places north in the future.