What is the point of a genealogy blog? After all, a blog usually displays what you're thinking/doing/seeing on the current day, doesn't it? Actually there are several different reasons for writing in a genealogy blog, apart from those blogs from huge commercial companies, who use them (mostly) to tell you what wonderful new things they have on their site to get you to part with your money.
A genealogy blog is not exactly a source. Well, it can be, but I would prefer to use one as a repository of clues, then go and do the research myself, once the blog has given me suggestions and/or directions.
It can actually be a pretty good focaliser (ooh, big word there I only learned last week). What I mean is - and what I found when I started this blog - it focuses you. I always caution against the scattergun approach: where you have 4,000+ ancestors in your family tree, and you dart from one to another and never get anything done. What a blog can do is almost magical. If you only have time and energy to write one blog post, then it stands to reason that you are better off settling on one ancestor only (OK, and maybe their family). You can write on another ancestor tomorrow.
And with this focusing comes peace of mind. And when you have peace of mind, you can think in a straight line. You notice genealogical details you didn't see before, because you were rushing on to the next ancestor. You thought you didn't have the time; but you now have time to complete that research log which shows where you've been and what you've done (and this helps when you really don't have time; you can just pick up where you left off, because you wrote it down).
So a genealogy blog can be many things: a source, a repository, a focaliser - and cousin bait. Cousin bait is where you have titled your blog post with an ancestor's full name and dates, and a distant relative happens to be desperately seeking them on Google (other search engines are available). And they find your blog! So they find you! Collaboration ensues - hooray!
© 2016 Ros Haywood. All Rights Reserved
Hi Rosa I find genealogy so fascinating you never know who you may find in you past or present. Sue from www.sizzlingtowardssixty.com.au
ReplyDeleteI agree! And after a while, you really grow to love these people, even though they are only names and dates on paper or a screen.
DeleteA thought provoking post, Ros. I am researching four family names and must admit, I tend to flit from one to another and need to be a better "focaliser" - a new word for me too. I find writing down my research quite early on in the process of writing a profile does concentrate the mind on what I know and what I need to find out. Thank you for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteHello ScotSue. I took part in Thomas MacEntee's "Genealogy Do-over" last year, and two of the main things I learned were a) SLOW DOWN and b) WRITE IT DOWN. And I find a genealogy blog helps me do both (as well as Excel, Legacy etc).
DeleteI'd love to discover if Indian is a family heritage. I was told my grandmother was, but words don't count. Contemplating a DNA test, what do you think of those? I see them advertised all the time.
ReplyDeleteHappy Second Day of the A to Z!
Ninga Minion @YolandaRenee from
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Actually, I don't know very much about DNA tests (apart from the fact that they are very simple, and to my mind very expensive). So I couldn't really advise you, sorry. But thanks for stopping by!
Delete(and, btw, I think it is spelled 'Ninja' rather than 'Ninga')
I'm adding a new word to a talk on blogging I'm doing today. Thanks for focaliser. BTW - May I add "focaliser"to the geneadictionary?
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! And of course you may add it. I can't express just how much my very first genealogy blog was a focaliser.
DeleteThat is the big thing is to focus. I noticed in myself, that I have darted from one to another and still feel confused. One thing about the names...I searched up my last name on Facebook to see what came up and I saw an old picture. I went to the Facebook page and there, before my eyes, were pictures of my dad and his family that I had never seen! It turns out it is a cousin of mi e who was looking i to her family tree. I now have pics of my dad fro. The late 40's and50's and I have a picture of my grandparents in the horse and buggy on their wedding day! I also had many more pics of my grandfather than I ever had ( I only had 2- 1 of him standing on a front stoop and the other of him I. The casket.) I have since got a lot more info on my dads side as a result and a friend in my cousin.
ReplyDeleteGosh, what a wonderful thing to happen - all those pictures!
DeleteIt took me a while to find my focus with blogging but once I found it I was away ! Alex from
ReplyDeleteFamily Tree Frog