The Grand Unexpected

Today, I received a great surprise from fellow geneablogger, Jana Last, author of Jana’s Genealogy and Family History Blog. I have learned to appreciate Jana’s blog a great deal, and enjoy reading it on a regular basis.

On 9 January 2013, she posted an article entitled, “Three Blog Awards, Kindly Given,” in which she stated that she had been nominated for three different awards at the close of 2012, and my only thought was that this was so well deserved.

As I continued to read, I was humbled and honored to see that she had chosen my blog, Ancestral Breezes, as one of her nominations for the “Blog of the Year 2012” Award.





It may seem like a simple gesture, but truly, I consider it great praise when another blogger and genealogist compliments my work. As a “transitioning” genealogist professional, I have spent countless hours in the past twelve months trying to find ways in which to turn my passion into a career path; I am truly astounded at the pride such an action invokes.

Part of this process is selecting my own nominations for ‘Blog of the Year 2012’. Thankfully, I am not limited in any way, so here are a couple of my favorites. These are people from whom I have learned, who have had an influence or impact on my professional world, or simply those that have conveyed true emotion and the spirit of collaboration in their blogs.

• Dan Curtis, “Professional Personal Historian”
• Lynn Palermo, “The Armchair Genealogist”
• The In-Depth Genealogist Blog (full disclosure, I am a contributor to this blog. The other authors, and the editors, have taught me a great deal, so this nomination goes to the collaboration effort as a whole.)
• Stephanie Pitcher Fishman “Corn & Cotton Genealogy Blog”
• Mariann Regan "Into the Briar Patch"

My thanks go out to all geneabloggers. What an incredible year it has been! I have learned much, laughed a great deal, and even cried some at the stories you tell, the personalities you bring forth in your writing. 

Raise a glass, friends, 2013 is going to be amazing. We will make it that way together.

Here’s the skinny on this Award:
1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award
2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.
3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)
4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them
5 You can now also join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience
6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

Create Your Own Genealogy Blog Stock Images

Read just about any article on "how to blog", and one of the first suggestions is always related to having images in each article. It's good advice, and it's a proven method of generating - and keeping - readers. In our technology laden society, we are being inundated with more and more information, you need something flashy and attractive to keep those that are interested in your stories coming back.

If you Google "stock photos", you can literally find millions of results. Some of them are free, some are not. Some are very high quality, some are not.

There is an easier way, however, and if you have a decent digital camera or a smartphone, it becomes relatively simple. Here is the warning: once you start taking pictures on your own for your genealogy or family history related blog, you may not stop. You've been told.

Inspiration comes easily, just look at the myriad of other bloggers out there, focusing of course on similar topics to yours. If your blog discusses a memory of your grandmother, take a photo of your heirloom tea cup that was passed down to you. Is the objective of the post a book review or include mention of a article or magazine? Use the cover of the text, a notepad and pen to create an image of studying or reading. Have a new research idea, that you want to write about? Fantastic! Even a stack of unidentified books in front of a computer screen makes a compelling image.

I've been doing this, consistently, now for a couple of months, and truly love it. The ideas that come to mind are really endless, and your imagination is all you really need!

Here's a few of mine:

My husband's toy wooden truck, placed on top of a map
from the general area where we grew up.

My own childhood toy! Mounted on a track and using
the same map. I used the macro setting on all of these
images to get the blurred corners.

My grandmother's tea cup and saucer, one of
a small collection. Placed on top of a family tree chart,
next to her name. 

Same tea cup and saucer, with a larger view of the chart.

To display continuing education...
classic texts with a genealogy conference
website in the background. Combining classic
"education" with new formats.

Use your community. Talk a walk around your neighborhood and look for interesting architectural details on local homes, flora and fauna that catches your eye, cloud formations above buildings that create an interesting scene. Use your creativity and have some fun with it! If your ancestors were farmers, get up close and personal with a grain of wheat or a leaf, if there are in a location with limited access to farms. Take pictures of gears, bike spokes, lunch boxes... anything that you can use to tell the story, behind the story.

The Rotary Snow Plow Park in Breckenridge, CO.
They have a fantastic engine, but the box car is
photographed very rarely.

Rotary Snow Plow Park, Breckenridge, CO.
A unique perspective on rail history, perhaps. 

My back deck, with the addition of my daughter's art work.
A good color / neutral tone combo.

Two suggestions, however. Find a way to have and label your images with copyright text, unless of course, you do not mind if anybody and everybody uses your ideas. Secondly, use your "macro" setting on your camera (it's up to you to research that, if you don't know what it is, there are far too many options to be discussed here), or Instagram on your smart phone to create unique, visually stimulating images.

A few moments of self-teaching on your equipment will go a long way, here. Take advantage of the tools you have at home to create unique, creative images for your blog. Your readers will appreciate it, and your stories will become more personal.

Finding Your Power in Writing

Protected by Copyright.

We hear many pieces of advice every day, and the information is coming to us faster than ever. Writer's and "writing experts" talk about "finding your voice", and using impressive post titles to intrigue, and then capture, an audience. One article recently read indicated using "power words" to engage your readers. I have heard these bullet points listed for months, as recently as within this last week from comments left on my post, "SEO: Why It's Important For Your Blog", so I finally decided to put down my thoughts on the topic.


Personally, I believe that only time and practice will evolve you into the kind of writer you want to be. It is the only way to "find your voice". For me, this meant I needed to practice on eliminating the extra, filler words. The unnecessary. After reading through several of my posts over the past month's, (almost a year!), I can see the changes in my style, I can 'hear' my more direct nature coming across. In life, I am not a "beat around the bush" type of gal, and I see that reflected in my writing here.

The "power words": I had to delve into that a bit, as its been a while since my last Creative Writing class, and it was easy to find. Strong, emotional words that create an immediate connection with your audience. Use those in your title, use them in your Twitter and Facebook posts to direct traffic, use them every which way you can. Because when we read, we want to connect. We are looking to find something in what the writer is expressing the induces... anything. Whether its dread, sadness, anticipation, adrenaline, fear, anger or overwhelming awe.

And those are the words. Sensational. Lavish. Sly. (When was the last time you used 'sly' in a genealogy blog post?)

There are more than a few websites on the topic, so I will challenge you: find a great one, and share it here. I found "57 Power Words For Writing Brilliant Headlines" by Tiffany Monhollon, posted 1 Jul 2010 on Personal PR. I also found a series by Tonia Kendrick from Tonia's Roots, entitled "31 Weeks to a Better Genealogy Blog", which I will absolutely be following from now on. She's already completed several posts, so I have some catching up to do. (How did I miss this?)

Let's be savvy bloggers, shall we? Find a great resource and let me know. Or not. I suppose you could keep it to yourself. But where's the fun in that?

SEO: Why It's Important for Your Blog

SEO.

If you cruise the internet, you may have come across this acronym. You may have thought it wasn't relevant to you, your blog, or your search for ancestors. It is, in fact, important. SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization", and no, its not scary.

What is it, exactly?

If you want the technological jargon, you can read all about it on Wikipedia. This is my take, my version of that information, but into language I can understand.

Simply put, SEO is the way a search engine reacts to a website and lists it in your results page. For example, if you do a search for "genealogy blogging", you will see www.geneabloggers.com is almost always at the top of the list. How does that happen? Well, site creator Thomas MacEntee has done an amazing job of providing search engines with the proper search terms, so people find his site first and easily. (He may have other tricks up his sleeve, and probably does, but I know he is doing this, and doing it well.)

Chrome search results for "genealogy blogging"

Think of it this way. When you open your web browser and conduct a search - for anything - you use a certain set of terms to try to get the best results possible, right? For example:

"Brown + Nebraska genealogy"

This is essentially universal. Yes, there are other ways of conducting a search. But, think about when you are looking for a recipe. You might search for "spaghetti recipe" or "world's best spaghetti". You don't always use a complicated search pattern to find what you are looking for.

Applying these terms to your unique blog or website allows the search engine to identify what your site is about and related to. It makes it easier for the search engine to find topics on your site and match those topics with the search terms that people use in simple searches.

Why should I do this? 

Simple. You want people to find you. Don't you?  Are you writing your blog to find other relatives? Well, they search for surnames, locations, photos, etc. Lead them to you with the right terms. Are you writing about your business, or general methodology? Great! Use the applied terms to communicate that's what you are writing about!

Don't care if anybody reads your blog? Ok. You can still read the rest of this one, though.

• "Why does it matter if your site is at the top of the results page or on page 42?"

Wouldn't a dedicated searcher find it either way?  Well, yes and no. I recently read that the average user in the U.S. only looks through the first two pages of search results, then either adapts the search terms or stops all together.

• "So what? Genealogy is reportedly the second most popular hobby - they are still going to find it."

Eventually, yes, they could. No built in guarantee on that one. Imagine that this long lost cousin finds you today, or finds you in five years. What have you missed out on? What kind of relationship could you have developed with this new branch of the family in that time?  There is a whole series of "what if's" here, and my favorite one is this: "what if long lost cousin's grandmother is still alive today, but dies next year?" Think about that for just a minute.

Convinced yet? Ready to start? I hope so.

How do I do this? 


Caroline Pointer of BloggingGenealogy.com recently posted a great little piece entitled Want More Cousins to Visit Your Genealogy Blog? in which she introduced us to "Cousin Awesome Sauce", and using "alt text", which allows you to "'tell' the search engine what the image says..." (Read the full post, it's worth it, I promise.)  So, start with that. Create a way for your images to be identified with the text you are producing.

Once you've got your feet wet, take a look at Search Engine Optimization: Step By Step on the About.com Web Design / HTML page, by Jennifer Kyrnin. It's a visual - yes, visual - instructional post about how to do this, and gives a more technical look at why you should. She makes it pretty easy.

Do not overlook this! This little tidbit from the step by step guide I just told you about is priceless! Use Adwords from Google to identify the best, and most common, search terms for your blog. Ms. Kyrnin puts this in her tutorial, but I want to point it out specifically as a really useful tool for this process. Just putting my blog and my webpage through that one tool, I learned a great deal. It proved to be incredibly useful.

Have other ideas? Know something about SEO that I don't? Well, that's likely. I'm just starting to educate myself on this particular road to internet usage and success. If you have a great resource you have used to improve your site, I'd really like to see it. Please leave a comment.

In the meantime, here is a great graphic to explain the process just one more time. And one more tip: look on Pinterest. There are numerous "infographics" to help understand SEO.

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/6442/12-Amazing-SEO-Infographics.aspx

Go Beyond Records

As genealogists, we are all interested in social history. Well, we should be at least. I recently came across an older blog post, written by Shelley Bishop, on her A Sense of Family site. Her piece, entitled Social History Resources for Genealogists certainly exposed me to some new and great websites to use in my research. Over the years, I have come across a few of my own ideas, and wanted to share some of those, as well. Not necessarily specific resources, but outlets for information.

Did your grandparents
take dancing lessons?

I would say the vast majority of us know the importance of collecting vital information, and for many, the genealogy hunt starts with numbers. It's kinda' like teenagers with Facebook... how many friends do you have? Except our question is, "how big is your file?"  As you mature in your research, the opportunities for social history seem to explode in your face. So, have you thought about...

• Specialized education or training?  Was your ancestor educated outside of public schools or colleges? 
• State licenses? I found my great uncle's fishing license from when he was 25 years old. Cool, huh? 
• Sporting societies?  There was a large Czech population in Colfax County, Nebraska, and their culture brought an emphasis on organized athletics. They had membership papers.
• Olympic Athlete? Maybe your ancestor went a lot farther than local clubs... check out the UK's National Archives; they've just released theirs for the first time online.
• Social clubs, hobbies. Sewing groups, book clubs, you get the idea. Nearly all of these organized groups had membership lists. 
• Occupations, of course, and unions. 
• Military veteran groups. Not just through the government or Veterans of Foregin Affairs (VFA), but groups like the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, Inc. 
• Car clubs!
• Youth groups. What did their children do? Were the parents volunteers? My father and his siblings were very active in the local 4-H Club, and my grandparents were both leaders at one time. I have a considerable collection of club records left over from my grandmother's estate. (Yes, I am trying to get these back to the 4-H where they belong.) You can also search for newspaper records that include these organizations. They may not list your specific ancestor, but if you know already they were members at that time, it can help you put their day to day life together.
• Continuing Education... this is one I think for more recent generations... cooking classes, second languages, etc. 
• Alumni Organizations
• Financial donations... were your ancestors particular active in local or national politics? Did they have a "cause" they worked towards? Were they influential in their religion? Did they have a few dollars to spare? Then you may find them here, in form of a receipt or acknowledgement from the organization.
• Animals... I found a record indicating that my great-great grandfather owned a registered French Draft Horse. I didn't even know there was such a thing before that. 

This list is by no means all inclusive. There are thousands of ways to learn more about their lives and how they spent their time. What motivated them? What were they passionate about?


Think about how they lived, what was happening during their lifetime. My great grandfather grew up in Nebraska, but the oral family history tells us that he "bought a train ticket and went as far west as he could". He ended up getting off the train in Washington State, and settled in a small community. We know already that he ran the local livery stable for some time, he worked on the roads commission, he joined the volunteer fire department and ran the "school bus" for local children. Only later in life, during the recession, did he start working as a farmer again. He lived in town, not out in the country.  That tells you something: he did everything he could to avoid farming.  Those are all clues that would indicate where you could look for records.

I would love to hear what you have discovered, what sources you have used, what stories you have learned. Feel free to leave a comment or a link to your own blog post!

Month In Review: My last 30 days

Way back in February I posted a monthly goals agenda. Ironically, one of those goals was to write a monthly goal list for every month. Don’t bother to look for March – it’s not there. As you can see, I didn’t get very far in that endeavor.

I have decided to change the objective. Certainly a list of goals to work towards during the course of a month is a nice thing to have, but I already have a lot of lists. My husband calls me, “the lister”. It’s a kind of illness, actually. So, I’m not sure that I really need another list. What I need is obtainable goals that are fluid, because you have to be able to adapt in this world. Change happens fast.

This then, is my first “month in review.” I do think that one of these roughly every thirty days would be beneficial, but I’m not going to choke on it. If it doesn’t get done, then it doesn’t get done. It’s my blog; I can do what I want, right?

Here’s what happened in late April and early May. It was actually a very exciting month for me, certainly the best I’ve had as an aspiring genealogist and personal historian. Really, it was a very busy last ten days or so. Either way, it was a great month for me, and for Ancestral Journeys.

On the 23^rd, it was officially announced by the editors at The In-Depth Genealogist, a new and exciting digi-mag, that I would be a regular contributor. I will be authoring a monthly column, entitled Family Atlas, along with two guest blog posts each month. My first column will appear in the June 2012 issue. Family Atlas will be focusing on research opportunities on a state-by-state basis, highlighting resources and the “unknown” genea-bloggers. Alongside this endeavor, I will also maintain the Featured Genealogist column, which will coincide geographically. 


(If you have a resource or genealogist you would like me to feature, please feel free to comment or email me.)

http://www.indepthgenealogist.com/

I started writing as the Breckenridge Genealogy Examiner, and my first article went up on the 26^th. Writing about anything history or genealogy related in, around, near, or related to Summit County, Colorado. This might be challenging as time goes on, but I’m game.

For the first time, I was invited to be a guest blogger on someone else’s site, and my first post on Michelle Nahom’s The Power of Photos, entitled “Telling Your Family Story” went up on 1 May.  Michelle is a training specialist for the Association of Personal Photo Organizers, or APPO. We met on Twitter, and she has been incredibly interesting to get to know. Please make sure to visit her blog. She also posted a guest blog for me, Making A Case For Printing Your Photos was published on 10 May.

My second chance at a guest blog happened the next day, when The In-Depth Genealogist published my Quick Source: JSTOR. A review of the amazing research opportunities available through the JSTOR site, much of which you can access for free. Apparently, it was one of the top blog posts of the week for them. *Insert pat on the back here.*

I got a job. Yep, a real life, out of the house, paying me a check job. I’m really very excited about it, though. Over the summer, I will be working for the Breckenridge Heritage Alliance, and for the first time I feel like the work I will be doing will actually be contributing something to society. I will be helping to expose others to the vast history of the Town of Breckenridge. There is also excitement for me in that this may lead to other opportunities with the organization, which would be wonderful. Be sure to check out their website, and if you decide to visit Summit County, Colorado any time of year, make sure you save yourself time for a walking tour, historic snowshoe hike, or the one I'm hoping to lead: the cemetery tour.

To top it all off, this was the last month of “The Puzzle of Your Past”, a family history research project I have been leading with the Leadville Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts of troop 840. (You can read about this project throughout my blog, as I have posted updates along the way, but also here.) It has been a wonderful year of discovery, and the girls are just putting the finishing touches on their projects for their May 20 “Court of Awards” annual ceremony. In the next few days, I will be working on finishing my end of the project, conducting as much research as possible in the time allowed and presenting a pedigree chart and CD-ROM to each participant for them to take home to their families. I hope they have enjoyed it as much as I have.(By the way, its the 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouting this year. You should check it out. No cookies without Girl Scouts!)

Along the way, I have been mentioned, retweeted, and linked by numerous “Big Names” in the genealogy field. That is always such a great moment for me; to have someone I respect so much recognize my work as useful and valuable enough to promote. It’s really mind blowing. I have never thought of myself as a writer, and yet, here I sit, eagerly committing to a steady stream of writing projects. It’s quite a surprise. Oh, and my blog? Yes. I am now up to 42 followers, so thank you so very much for supporting me. I greatly appreciate you as an audience, and value your feedback and commentary.

I’m so looking forward to seeing what the coming 30 days has to offer me, though I cannot imagine it will bring the changes and deadlines that the last 30 did. I guess we’ll find out soon. 


Hopefully it will be less snowy and filled with more lovely wild mountain flowers. 

Photo copyright Jen Baldwin,
Ancestral Journeys, 2011.

Attending the 2012 NGS Family History Conference Without Actually Attending

This is a big week in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thousands of genealogists, family historians, archivists and others will be traveling to and around Ohio for the 2012 NGS Family History Conference, which takes place May 9-12.

If you are anything like me, travel funds for conferences and other genealogy events are limited, so this year, I am not able to attend. What that actually means is that my physical self will not be present in Cincinnati.

In reality, I will be attending. Via social media.

I learned of the true power of Twitter during this year's RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City. For those that attended with me, whether you were there or not, you know to what I'm referring. The conversations that existed through Twitter, Facebook, blogs, the live streams of sessions and other methods were incredible. I read a comment this morning that was posted, simply saying, "you couldn't tell who was in the room and who was at home in their living room." It was exciting, invigorating, and best of all, incredibly educational and motivating.

I am planning on attending this year's NGS conference the same way.

• A summary of the events is available on the NGS site,  http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/conference_info. This includes available downloads, a mobile app for those attending in Ohio, and a daily schedule. 
• You can follow the conference blog here. ( http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/)
• The National Genealogical Society, I'm sure, will be posting news and tidbits on their Facebook page.
• You can follow NGS on Twitter, using @ngsgenealogy. 
• The Twitter hashtag, or #, is #ngs2012. (To make it easy on yourself, create a new feed or column to follow just that hashtag.)
• The conference will have official bloggers, which are folks out in the field, who are attending, who will blog about their experience. One example is Laura Cosgrove Lorenzana, owner of From Roots to Leaves, who will be blogging on The Last Leaf of This Branch. You can find the full and complete list on the NGS Conference Blog, on the right hand side. See link above. 
• Here's a great tip: the Accessible Archives has created an RSS bundle, so you can follow all the blogs very easily. Find that here:  http://www.accessible-archives.com/2012/05/follow-the-ngs2012-official-bloggers/. (My thanks to Gena Philibert-Ortega of the blog Food.Family.Epemera. for the information.)
• Use the NGS TwitterFall to track the tweets easily:  http://twitterfall.com/?trend=%23ngs2012%21%231F3547. 

So, conference goers, enjoy! Whether you are there in the crowd, or sitting at home with a good cup of coffee in your pajama's (oh, yes, that is most certainly the plan at my house!), learn much and remember to share! We will join in the conference experience and conversation. May the fun begin!

1940 Census: Can't Get Enough?

We've all seen them. Any of us that are on Twitter or Facebook, we've seen them. An entirely new series of comics, humor, all designed around the addiction that is the 1940 Census. There is the "1940 Census Whisperer", sites such as Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com, and others; all helping us learn and develop our skills as we go through this process together.

But, it all started with the 1940 US Census Project.

The hype. The media attention. The energy behind the project.

You've probably seen the page. You may have even visited it. Filled with valuable information and helpful hints. Did you know they have a blog? That's right, the 1940 US Census Project has a blog. It's as if the census itself was talking to us. With contributing authors such as Josh Taylor of findmypast.com and Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers, the posts have been interesting at the least and incredibly entertaining.

There is still so much to learn! Every day, genealogists from around the world have been sharing their results with the rest of us. Every day, more pages are indexed; hand writing deciphered, confusing households made to be not quite so confusing. I encourage all of you to retain the excitement, keep up the hype. This endeavor of tracing the past through the individual or family unit is full of twists and turns, and so is the 1940 US Census.

Learn more by viewing the blog (see link above) and keeping up to date by following Twitter #1940Census.