Two Surprises in One Day

Yesterday I received a notification telling me that this blog had made it on the list of Feedspot's 100 Best Genealogy Blogs and Websites in 2025.

https://bloggers.feedspot.com/genealogy_blogs/

I am flabbergasted and honoured to find my little blog, that was launched in 2008, ranked in a very healthy spot seventeen years later on this list of international genealogy blogs.

Coincidentally the power of blogs to preserve and share family stories also hit home yesterday.

Just yesterday I found a new 1st cousin once removed as the result of a large DNA match popping up. On contacting me this young man said "Only recently have I started hearing about the family but always been curious hence why I finally did the test". and then "I was interested as we never knew our real grandparents and their backgrounds and also just curious to know how far back we go and the rest."

Over the years I have blogged the stories of this chap's ancestors in posts on my GeniAus blog. I may have overwhelmed him but I was able to quickly share links to stories about his grandparents, earlier generations, his aboriginality, his convict ancestors, war heroes etc. He now has plenty of time to digest this info over the coming weeks and months. I am thrilled that I have a resource that can help new to me cousins discover their backgrounds. 

The power of blogging to preserve the stories of earlier generations cannot be underestimated.

Keeping the Threads Together

Back in 2012 I noted that one of Jenna Mills' goals on Desperately Seeking Surnames for 2012 was "Post more comments to other bloggers on their blog itself not on Twitter, Facebook or Google+".

In the intervening ten years it seems that genies post even fewer comments on my posts than they did in 2012. Perhaps what I write isn't worthwhile, people don't actually read my posts but comment anyway or maybe they find it easier to comment on other social media platforms. Maybe I am just old-fashioned and need to move with and appreciate current trends.

While I appreciate the comments made on other social media channels I believe that this practice dilutes the value of the interactive element of the blogging platform. I am often heard to say that Blogging is a two way street  and I feel that blog post comments should be made on the street where the post resides not on some other social media thoroughfare like Twitter or Facebook.

By keeping the threads together in the comments area of a blog post the initial post can be enriched by a compilation of comments that build on each other to add value and opinions.  With all comments  neatly stored together various opinions can be explored in one space. Those comments made outside the blogging platform may just be loose threads that do not add value to the original post.

I'd love to know what you think on this topic.

Trove Tuesday - Anonymous?

When I am selecting posts to share in my weekly GeniAus Gems post on this blog one of the first things I do is to try and establish who has written whichever post I am recommending. This is sometimes quite difficult to ascertain.

During my training as a librarian years ago we were warned about Anonymous works and were counselled to approach these with a degree of scepticism. We were taught was that, during the process of evaluating a work, we had to establish the authority of the person who was the author of that work. When I am reading blogs I'm surprised at how difficult some bloggers make it for me to discover their identuty.

 I know there are some reasons like child protection, witness protection programs etc for people to remain anonymous but I don't think all the anonymous bloggers I come across are in this category.

Do you like to know who has written what you are reading?

As it's Trove Tuesday I decided to see what articles about Anonymous I could find on Trove so here goes.

1935 'Anonymous.', The Australian Worker (Sydney, NSW : 1913 - 1950), 20 March, p. 19. , viewed 05 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146008427

1923 'ANONYMOUS.', Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 - 1950), 9 November, p. 2. , viewed 05 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article133023171

1918 'ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTIONS.',Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949), 4 September, p. 2. , viewed 05 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191058997

1903 'ANONYMOUS.', The World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), 6 June, p. 23. , viewed 05 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128458994

Your Official Blogging Team

Although we are in regular contact on various social media channels your Official #AFFHO Congress Bloggers rarely meet in person as we live in three distant corners of Australia.  So when we meet up "in the flesh" there is lots of excitement.

Shauna, Jill and Pauleen proudly wearing our blogger beads

If you are at Congress and you see one of us please say G'day  ....  and if you want to know about geneablogging ask one of the 30 bead wearing bloggers at Congress all about it.

And don't forget to keep visiting the Compilations of Blog Posts from Congress at http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/geneabloggers-at-congress-posts-from.html where you'll find link sto as many blog posts as I can find from Congress 2015.

Addictions united

Those who read my blog will know that I am a Genealogy Junkie and a Social Media Tragic but I have another addiction; I am a Cruiseaholic. Having a chance to combine these three interests puts me on a stairway to heaven.

I have become a blogging partner on Unlock the Past Cruises new website, http://www.unlockthepastcruises.com/, because it allows me to combine those three interests.  Most importantly the modest Alan Phillips, the man behind Unlock the Past, is an ethical operator with a  genuine passion for history and genealogy.  I am honoured that Alan has added me to his list of  blogging partners that includes foremost bloggers, researchers and writers from Australia and overseas.

Unlock the Past Cruises Website

Alan has organised four successful cruises in the Australian region so he is perfecting the recipe for a perfect cruise. He is now dipping his toes into foreign waters by including cruises around Britain and Europe.

 As a veteran of just one Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise I am hooked; I have already booked and will be presenting on the next cruise in February. I hope that I can join Alan's Unlock the Past team in some of the cruises in more distant locations.

Generous Genies

I just filled out two surveys about the Rootstech Conference, one was a presenter survey and one was the general survey.

To the question that asked on both surveys what was the best thing abo "The opportunity to meet and network with like-minded people." This especially goes for geneabloggers. The Rootstech conference gives one a chance to finally meet those friends one has made online. This year Mr Geniaus and I met my social media mate, Heather Wilkinson Rojo and her husband Vincent for the first time. As soon as they knew we would be visiting Boston after Rootstech  they offered to drive down from their home in New Hampshire and show us some of the sights outside of Boston.

We had an amazing time with our hosts, Heather and Vincent, who both have a deep knowledge of local history. Our knowledge of 18th Century US history has grown enormously through the efforts of this lovely couple who took us on a wonderful tour of historic sites.

Geniaus with Vincent and Heather at Minuteman National Historic Park

The icing on the cake is that Heather has written a recount of our day on her blog so that I have a beautifully written record of our fabulous day together. You can read about our adventures here.

Thank you to two Generous Genies.

Alona at Rootstech

One of the Australian contingent at Rootstech was young Australian geneablogger, Alona Tester, author of the Lonetester blog.

In this interview Alona told me how she came to blogging and about the three blogs she writes. I had a fun time interviewing Alona, one of the fresh young faces of geneablogging.

6,800 - that's some party

With 6,800 attendees the Rootstech Conference will not be a boutique event. I will count myself lucky if I get to meet, chat with and remember 68 of the people that are attending.

I don't believe in jet lag but have been suffering from a bit of insomnia since I arrived in Salt Lake City so after midnight I decided to take a sleeping pill and it worked. I was intending to attend a lecture at the Family History Library this morning but slept in so I thought I had missed it.

When I huffed and puffed into the venue for the next talk I discovered that the speaker's plane had been delayed and that the talk had been cancelled - I'm glad I had that good sleep and didn't set an alarm to arrive on time.

As the second speaker was also delayed my mate, Audrey Collins, stepped in and presented a talk "There and back again" in which she told us that our ordinary ancestors often travelled far and wide. She demonstrated, with a range of examples, that if we can't find our ancestors in local records we should cast our net wide and we might be rewarded with surprising results.

Audrey's title slide

Since Audrey's talk I have been down on B2 working away on my research while Mr Geniaus (who doesn't do genealogy or research) is looking for his ancestors on the library's collection of subscription databases.

Shortly I'll be heading off to The Lion House for the Rootstech Official Bloggers Dinner where I'll renew friendships with old bloggers and meet the new bloggers.  Once the Conference starts my blog posts may not be so frequent.

Janelle's family tree addiction: Our new book has arrived!!

Better late than never - I just found this post from Australian genealogist, Janelle, telling about the book she and a group of Maria Northcote's Genies Downunder listeners published.

Janelle's family tree addiction: Our new book has arrived!!: 

I'll be downloading a .pdf copy of this book to my tablet.

I also realised that I wasn't following Janelle's blog. Mea Culpa! The situation has been rectified.

It's even sweeter

Having just finished nominating some of my Genimates for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award I wandered over to Pauleen Cass's blog to tell her that I had nominated her blog and there a surprise awaited me. Pauleen had also nominated the Geniaus blog for the award.

I thank Pauleen for her nomination, I so enjoy the interactions I have with all of the geneabloggers with whom I communicate. I won't add any more names to my earlier nominations, I appreciate each and every comment from all of my readers.

You can see the list of Pauleen's nominations here.

Awardee headed to Rootstech

I am thrilled for my Genimate, Liz Pidgeon (aka @Infolass), Local and Family History Librarian at

Yarra Plenty Regional Library Melbourne, Australia and blogger for the Library Service at http://ypgenealogy.blogspot.com/ http://yplocalhistory.blogspot.com.

Liz Pidgeon

The 2012 recipient of the Margery C Ramsay scholarship that is offered to a librarian in a Victorian Public Library every two years to support the recipient's professional development is Liz Pidgeon.

Liz wrote to me that she will go to London first and attend Who Do You Think You Are Live – as well as libraries and archives.  Then over to New York City to visit the Public Library and Ellis Island.  Then to Fort Wayne Indiana to visit the Allen County Public Library that has partnerships with Fold3 and Internet Archive.  Then to Salt Lake City for Rootstech and a couple of days at the library before going to San Francisco". 

Liz will be busy blogging and tweeting from these locations. I look forward to catching up with Liz and Mr Infolass at Rootstech in March.

Congratulations, Liz, you are a worthy recipient of this prestigious award.

The Officials are a drop in the ocean

It has been an honour to be nominated as an Official Blogger for the Rootstech Conference for three consecutive years. I don't know how I managed to get membership of this select group but I relish the opportunity I have to represent the southern hemisphere on the team.

We 'Officials' are but only a few of the many genealogists who blog and write about this stellar event on the genealogy calendar. In 2011 and 2012 I met face to face  many of the people behind the blogs I read from downunder; it was like catching with old friends. If you can't attend Rootstech find and follow the posts from all the bloggers who attend - you will be assured of a great vicarious experience.

If you are blogging about Rootstech from Salt Lake City or at a distance a good way to let others know is to join The Genealogy Bloggers at Rootstech Facebook Group set up by Heather Wilkinson Rojo. I note that there are presently 75 members of the group. 

How about swelling the numbers?

Orange is not my colour

The Exciting news that I foreshadowed a few days ago is that I have been invited to be an Official Blogger for Rootstech 2013.

As this is a great honour in the geneablogging world I RSVP'd without haste. Having booked my aeroplane ride to the US and a post Rootstech recovery cruise several months ago I have been committed to attend for some time. Actually I was committed when Mr Geniaus (a supportive non-genealogist) who travelled with me to Rootstech this year commented just after the Conference "We'll do ...... when we come next year".

You see Mr Geniaus, who has no interest in research but loves family stories, was able to appreciate the value of this conference to a little old Australian Granny who loves technology and genealogy. Although research is not his thing he was infused with the excitement that is part of this event. He enjoyed meeting some of my online geneapals like Thomas MacEntee, Footnote Maven, Audrey Collins, Amy Coffin, Banai Feldstein, James Tanner, Randy Seaver, Dear Myrtle and Lisa Alzo and was able to see why I enjoyed meeting up with them in person. He realised that they are not a bunch of weirdos but a passionate and intelligent  group of enthusiasts with a shared interest. In other words he approved.

I am excited, as the Antipodean Official Blogger, that a couple of my Australian Genimates will be travelling to Rootstech for the first time next year and I know of two others who have applied for financial support to attend. I look forward to introducing members of the Aussie contingent to my mates in Salt Lake City. I will try to report on the conference happenings for those who can't make the journey although, once the proceedings get underway, these posts may just consist of photos snapped along the way.

I believe that there will be a big update to the Rootstech site in the next day or so (I am timezone challenged so am not sure exactly when this will occur) and that earlybird registrations will then open. So please watch the Rootstech site.  As it is already the 24th September in Australia (when I am allowed to share the news) I will schedule this post for early morning Salt Lake City time.

Thanks also to the Rootstech organisers for offering Official Blogger Badges in a range of colours other than Orange.

Blogger Bling - Geneabloggers - Are you Ready?

I estimate that there are around 20 Australian Geneabloggers attending Congress in Adelaide this week. Traditionally at overseas genealogy conferences Geneabloggers wear beads so that they can recognise each other and to arouse the curiosity of others who may not understand the value of blogging about genealogy.

On my recent overseas trip I picked up several dozen strings of blogger bling in New Orleans just after Mardi Gras.  I'll be carrying the booty in my little conference bag - please seek me out, identify yourself as a geneablogger and you can select some beads. Just look out for the little old granny with the big gold beads.

Let's use Congress to share the good news about Genealogy Blogging.

Learning from the Experts at Rootstech

Although he doesn't do genealogy Mr Geniaus is tapping the brains of the many expert genealogists who are at the conference. Here he is deep in conversation in the Media Hub (Official Bloggers' Hangout) with Dear Myrtle.

Geneabloggers Blogtalk Radio

While most of the Americans at Rootstech's "Friday night at the Library" watched the "Who do you think you are?" TV show at 7:00 pm this evening. I took the option of attending the broadcast of the first birthday show of Geneabloggers Blogtalk Radio.

Instead of watching the show at my kitchen table at lunchtime on Saturday in Sydney I joined Thomas MacEntee, co-host, Dear Myrtle, and a couple of other lucky genealogists in a glass enclosed conference room in The Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

During the show I was busy Tweeting, writing on the chatboard, taking photos and, on a cue from Myrt, presenting Thomas with a 'surprise' birthday cake. I promised the people on the chatboard that I would post a few photos to this blog but, as it is easier to upload a set of photos to Facebook, I created a Public Photo Album that you can access here.

Rootstech Bloggers on tour

Rootstech Bloggers were taken on an orientation tour of the Rootstech Exhubition Hall at 7:30 am before the show began. You may recognise james Tanner and Randy Seaver.

Series: RootsTech Bloggers «

Read about my fellow Official Bloggers for the Rootstech Conference here:

Series: RootsTech Bloggers «:

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