A Sunday Walk around the Blogs

Judy G. Russell puts a fine point on copyright with Courtesy, ethics and law.

On Rootsmithing: Genealogy, Methodology, and Technology, Drew Smith discusses the fact that expertise is neither dead nor sequestered. The short of his argument is that copyright does not keep anyone from using published research and genealogy experts are not to blame because newcomers to the field can’t be bothered to use offline resources, including libraries.

Along similar lines, Michael John Neill, on RootDig, discusses the twin myths of the Genealogy Elite and the Genealogy Police.

The American Historical Society recently published a blog post, Big Changes in Store for the Future Management of Government Records discussing the impact of President Obama’s recent memorandum on managing government records.

I discovered an interesting new blog this weekend written by Kari Roueche, who recently graduated from East Tennessee State University with a Master degree in Liberal Studies/Archival Studies. The blog is called Archiventures and explores various aspects of history in the eastern Tennessee area.

A Sunday Walk around the Blogs

Lee Carpenter writes about a new addition to Foxfire’s property over at Appalachian History, a German-style barn donated by Sam Beck, Warwoman Community, Rabun Co., GA.

In Looking around, Judy G. Russell offers a friendly reminder that not everything in a courthouse has been microfilmed and/or digitized in.

One of Elizabeth Shown Mills’ recent QuickTips covered sigillography. Can you guess what it means before checking her excellent discussion?

Sometimes, history can be downright bizarre. While rooting through a trunk inherited from his aunt Bonnie Revis, Frederick Cochran found a piece of cake left over from a 1924 wedding held at the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC, where Revis worked as a cook.

A Sunday Walk around the Blogs

Well, here’s what I’ll be doing this summer… (Hint: Not genealogy.)

Thomas MacEntee offers, Plagiarism: A Venereal Disease in the Genealogy Community, in which he discusses how a certain, known plagiarist is up to his old tricks again. Thomas also asks an important question: Why does the genealogy community continue to tolerate this person’s activities?

Elizabeth Shown Mills ask, Genealogy? In the Academic World? Seriously? in QuickLesson 18 on the Evidence Explained website.

A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

Archives.com’s Expert Series includes several noteworthy recent additions:

• J. Mark Lowe on Beginning to Research Your Ancestors in Tennessee;
• another article by Mark, Border Jumping: Researching Across State & County Borders;
• and Harold Henderson’s Did I Prove It? Ten Questions to Ask Along the Way.

The History Blog shares a German officer’s photo record of World War I, a collection of photographs taken by Walter Koessler, who later immigrated to the United States.

The National Archives is holding a free virtual genealogy fair! Thanks to Angela Packer McGhie at Adventures in Genealogy Education for getting the word out.

A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

Stephanie West, an archaeology student at the University of West Georgia, is digging up swampland in Richmond Co., GA, along the Savannah River searching for clues to that area’s prehistoric settlements.

The Knitting Genealogist shares a fascinating look at a broken down brick wall in her family in Magenta Divine, which explores the generations-long involvement of these families in the wool industry.

Hoyt Bleakley and Joseph Ferrie have published the draft form of a paper titled Up from Poverty? The 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery and the Long-Run Distribution of Wealth. It should be noted that the reasons for distributing land in Georgia through a lottery system had nothing to do with helping the poor or distributing wealth, in and of itself. Instead, the system was undertaken because of earlier fraudulent practices, as the authors rightly explain. This paper should be very useful to genealogists who are concerned with the effects historical events had on their ancestors. Thanks to Harold Henderson for pointing it out.

Dave Lynch of 200 Years in Paradise has an interesting post Law & Order: Research & Proof in Genealogy, inspired by recent discussions in one of the groups studying Thomas W. Jones’ Mastering Genealogical Proof

A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

Harold Henderson of Midwestern Microhistory ruminates on “Good enough” citations? We can do better.

The Concord Review’s blog featured an interview with Emma Scoble, whose paper on the Broderick-Terry Duel was published in the 2013 issue of The Concord Review. TCR is the only academic humanities journal dedicated to publishing exemplary work by high school students.

Colonial America’s oldest unsolved murder has now been solved. Forensic archaeologists at Jamestown, Virginia, have discovered the identity of skeletal remains unearthed in 1996. The remains are believed to be of George Harrison, who died in 1624 after a duel with Richard Stephens.

A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

Missing records aren’t always lost, and sometimes they’re returned, as Madison County, Alabama, court officials discovered recently.

Harold Henderson discusses a recent article on the demise of genealogy in Does genealogy have a future? Don’t ask a journalist.

Judy G. Russell brings us some really peachy news: the Georgia Archives is opening to the public two additional days beginning 31 July, and somewhere along the line will be adding additional staff. Woot!

Robyn at Reclaiming Kin writes about The Definition of Black according to instructions for federal census takers. This post is an excellent example of why Robyn’s blog is one of my favorites.

A new web site seeks to document the Historic Rural Churches of Georgia.

A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

Laura June wrote a lovely article that was published for The Verge, Who am I? Data and DNA answer one of life’s biggest questions. My personal feeling is that people rely too much on the Internet and DNA without really understanding basic genealogical research and methodologies (such as what constitutes “proof”), let alone that there are many, many other useful records found offline. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed Laura’s article, and hope that the limitations of technology in the genealogy field will one day be overcome.

Carl Zimmer, at National Geographic, discusses mathematics and genealogy in Charlemagne’s DNA and Our Universal Royalty. Be sure to check out the referenced scientific literature at PLOS Biology, The Geography of Recent Genetic Ancestry across Europe. Thanks to Redditor jjberg2 for posting these articles.

A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

In Talented Tuesday: Sture Wallin, Soldier and Baseball Player, Susan W. Mosey describes the intersection of her grandfather’s life with the Great American Pastime.

It’s shallow, I know, but when I see neat New England tombstones, like that of Elanathen Ives and Abigail Frisbe posted by Les at Bits and Pieces, I wish I had New England ancestors, too. But just for the tombstones.

Robyn at Reclaiming Kin writes about Genealogical Shock Syndrome in Martha Simpson: Right Under My Nose. GSS is a common malady often found in victims of the more well-known but related disease, Genealogical Researchitis. Fortunately, there’s a remedy, as Robyn amply demonstrates.

GeorgiaArchivesMatters brings good news for supporters of the Georgia Archives in A New Beginning…Bill Signing Scheduled.

A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

I absolutely love pictures of old things or old pictures of things. (Either one. I’m not picky.) Brenda Joyce Jerome’s post on the tomb of H. F. Given fits the bill perfectly. Isn’t that a beautiful monument? Brenda’s accompanying explanation is just icing on the cake.

Judy G. Russell explains the term upon the country, which clears up some of the puzzlement I’ve had over the past two years of dealing with Rabun County’s early writs and petitions. Thanks, Judy!

Here’s a neat story about Baxter Reuben Lowe and the Apollo Project, by J. R. Lowe at Genealogist Journal. Helping put men on the moon is the next best thing to being there.

The Archives.com Experts have been busy writing some very interesting articles. Of special note are:

• “Using Federal Direct Tax Records” by Diane L. Richard
• “Evernote: Your Virtual Research Assistant” by Thomas MacEntee
• “Research a Relative’s College Days” by Sunny McClellan Morton