GeneaBabble

Using Facebook to Find Living Relatives

Michael McKean — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:21:20 +0000

If you’re not on Facebook yet, you should be. It’s a great way to keep in contact with friends and family. It’s also a great way to connect with people you haven’t seen in years. After you open an account you should fill out...

Removing More Cousins

Michael McKean — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:39:52 +0000

I was just discussing cousin relationships on Twitter and came across this page that explains them very nicely with graphic examples. Simple stuff once you figure it out!

Gravedigging

Michael McKean — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:32:07 +0000

When I first started reading this article I imagined someone running around his backyard with a shovel digging for bones. That’s not exactly the case here, but if you’ve ever watched If Walls Could Talk then you know that gravestones are...

Doodling Draftsmen

Michael McKean — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:21:15 +0000

Does anyone happen to have any pics of strange doodlings or “notes” on tax maps or other drawings relevant to genealogy? I remember seeing a lake or some other feature drawn as a dog on a tax map in Trumbull County, OH, and some other...

Is Obama revitalizing genealogy?

Michael McKean — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:15:01 +0000

Well, here’s an article that claims that Obama may boost interest in genealogy, at least in Switzerland. I’ve noticed that my entry on Obama’s ancestors has had more comments than anything else on this blog. In fact, 8 comments is...

Citing Sources

Michael McKean — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:18:43 +0000

I ran across an article the other day (My Plea for More Citation of Primary Sources by Scott Simpson) which discusses a major problem in genealogy. I have found several discussions on genealogy message boards which discuss my ancestors. I have also...

Genealogy and Politics

Michael McKean — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:33:44 +0000

I’ve noticed this election that there’s been quite a few articles about the genealogy of political candidates, like this one about Sarah Palin, for instance. I also wrote a bit about Obama’s genealogy (here and here) before. Now,...

Cheap Drugs!

Michael McKean — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:16:06 +0000

I found this a couple of weeks ago while scanning through microfilm at the Lepper Public Library in Lisbon, OH: It’s from a now defunct newspaper published in Lisbon called The Journal c. 1870 (I forgot to write down the issue date). And...

City Directories

Michael McKean — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:46:18 +0000

Just read this post at Genea-Musings (an excellent blog) about US city directories. They are, indeed, an underused resource. One time I looked up my dad in the old City of Youngstown directories out of curiosity and found out he had the same phone...

Genealogical Data Files, GEDCOM, XML, etc.

Michael McKean — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:11:40 +0000

So, I’ve been thinking about how we store our genealogical data recently. Every genealogy program has its own format and some programs can’t read every format out there. It can be a real pain to exchange data. Every program seems to...