As usual, it has been a few weeks since my last blog post. And, as usual, I have been very busy. I have been out of town parts of 7 weeks since my return from RootsTech. I have been to Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, West Virgina, Ohio, Everglades National Park, and Coral Gables. I also started a course of study at the International Institute of Genealogical Studies and am guest writing on another company's blog (more to come about that at a later time).
So, what is the reason that I am writing today? Well, it is always great to get a little recognition and to tell people about it. I received an email this week from someone who's daughter used some of my resources in a project. She wrote:
"I just wanted to thank you for putting together your genealogy blog! For the month of June, my daughter Lily's Girl Scout troop will be working on their Family Heritage Fun Patch and your genealogy information helped us a bunch!
Lily's troop leader encouraged the parents to work with our girls at home to explore our family's history! She asked the girls to put together a presentation about their heritage that they will be sharing with the rest of the troop. We've been working on creating our family tree (our family is originally from Ireland) ....you shared some great websites and information for us to check out, so Lily and I wanted to make sure we let you know how much you've helped us :)"
I really like to hear from people that find my blog helpful and I appreciated this email. Lilly even suggested that I look at two websites that she found useful. They were:
- Researching Your Family's History from Ships Passenger Lists - https://www.hmy.com/researching-your-familys-history-from-ships-passenger-lists
- Genealogy for Kids: Building a Family Tree - https://www.aaastateofplay.com/genealogy-for-kids-building-a-family-tree
The first resource is interesting because it was included on the HMY Yacht Sales website. You don't often find genealogy resources on a webpage designed to sell a product. But after reviewing this site, I found some great resources for people just beginning their search of ancestors in ships passenger lists as well as some links to sites that more seasoned researchers may want to check out. They start out with some general tips: "Start your search with your ancestors’ names. However, remember most of these records have been transcribed from handwriting, and mistakes are made. Try alternative spellings. Confirm you have located the right person by with whom they are traveling, their age, or their date of arrival."
The page provides links to sites such as Family History Daily, Genealogy.com, FamilyTree Magazine, JSTOR, AncestralFindings, The Ships List, Immigrant Ships, UK National Archives, and many more.
The second resource that Lily provided has some great tips for kids as well as anyone new to family history. This website is also one that you probably wouldn't think of searching for family history information. The purpose of the AAA State of Play website is to sell playground equipment. The website highlights the benefits of children researching their family history and states "Researching a family's genealogy and making a family tree is a great way for kids and adults to learn more about who they are. It also brings history to life in a new way, making it possible to see how historical events impacted one family: the researcher's own. Genealogy is also a great way to sharpen research skills."
This site provides links to sites such as NGS, Parents.com, FindMyPast, Family History Daily, Library of Congress, Ancestral Findings, Ancestry.com, PEW Research, New York Public Library, and many more.
These sites remind me to look in places that I would not normally think of when researching, so I would like to thank Lily for bringing them to my attention. I also want to wish Lilly good luck in her presentation of her family history to her Troop and hope that this is just the beginning of her research into her family history.
