Thursday’s Thoughts on Genealogy and Everything Else

Photo In Possession of Author

Hi genealogy friends! This post – Thursday’s Thoughts is an assortment of ideas that have crossed my mind this week! Nothing profound, just observations and who knows, maybe you’re thinking the same thing!

#Genchat is tomorrow night (Feb 8th) and is sponsored by the staff at The In Depth Genealogist. (For further info click here.) The first #Genchat was fast and furious. I was happy to observe and gain some really helpful tips. Tomorrow night’s subject is Weekend Warriors: best tips for 60 minutes of research but let me tell you, many other genealogy questions are asked and answered. So don’t skip #Genchat lots of subjects are covered.

Me and my genea-buddy sister did some courthouse research this past week. She has a new wand scanner. Boy was it nice. She gave me copies of what she scanned and I was very impressed with the quality. (I’m lucky I can borrow it if she isn’t with me on a research trip!)

I am fascinated with the discovery of the remains of King Richard III. Using DNA to accomplish the identity of a man who lived in the 1400s is remarkable.

Genea-buddy sister and I also went to our local museum’s library to do some research. Actually she does a good work and volunteers there, I was doing research. One of the items I was looking through was the Roster of Ohio Soldiers 1861-1866. I have gone through it many times online but this was the first time I actually held one of the books. I didn’t know there was a Roll of Honor in the back of each volume listing many of the burial places of Ohio’s Civil War soldiers. Online research is good but on-sight research opened my eyes to resources I didn’t even know existed.

Looking forward to the launch of ReelGenie. The user of reelGenie will be able to make a video using photos, music, historical documents and voice over. The idea for ReelGenie is to make a personal history movie for birthdays, weddings, memorials, etc. I see it as a great way for my adult kids to learn about their family history. They’ll watch a video. Great genealogy tool!

Talking about video . . . have you seen Vine? It’s a smart phone app that allows the user to make a 6 second video. You can tweet the video, put it on Facebook or watch on Vine itself. The the 6 second spot replays over and over again. I can see a merchant using it to get news of a sale out or promote a product but still figuring out what I’d do with it. I don’t know, maybe promote a blog post? (BTW I do have an account so look me up! I need friends! LOL!)

I’m map crazy at the moment. I have an 1880 plat map of the township in Ohio where most of my ancestors lived. I’m transferring that info to a modern day map of the area. This ties in with the courthouse work mentioned above. My ancestors married spouses within three farms of where they lived. They didn’t marry outside their immediate area let alone outside their township. Interesting stuff.

My blog post tomorrow is Genealogy Research on Facebook. I hope you’ll stop back to read it. (I know that’s a shameless attempt to keep you coming back to my blog. I hope it works!! LOL!)

Thanks for stopping by.