Read Blogs

Experienced genealogists will look at the title of this blog entry and immediately think, "Opps! She's wrong!" because the word is really spelled "Genealogy." They know it's wrong, though, because they probably started out spelling it that way! Beginning researchers typically start with the spelling "GENEOLOGY" because it both looks and sounds right.

So why is that?

As 'geneologists' we are very concerned with the roots and origins of things so our first clue will be to look at the origin of the word.

This word, meaning the study of a family tree or lineage comes from two Greek words: genea (ancestry or descent) and logos (wisdom or knowledge).

Both together 'genealogos', or genealogy and genealogist.

If we had all paid good attention in Latin class, memorized our vocabularies and passed with flying A's then there would be no problem because we'd always be thinking "genea" first and the spelling and pronunciation would naturally follow.

Antique lovers will appreciate this video tour through a Victorian Bed and Breakfast located in Salmon, Idaho. Amazing wallpaper, woodwork and carpeting.

Victorian B&B Tour

Gonna have to work up the history on the Greyhouse Inn.

Gifts for Genealogists

at the classified ad site
AbbysBuySellGenealogy.com

Does your business
offer a product or service
that makes a great gift
for a genealogist?

Handwriting analysis?
Restoration?
Translation?

Book services?
Printing?
Editing?

Research?
Publishing?

Maybe you have fun gifts
Antiques, cups, mugs, pens, pencils, storage supplies...

Homeland Vacations
Post your business on
the classified advertising site just for genealogists!

Abbys Genealogy Classified Marketplace

AbbysBuySellGenealogy.com

Professional artists have known about the value of preserving works of art with acid free materials for centuries. Genealogists work extensively with old papers, photographs and documents and do well to learn from the masters of all disciplines.

For instance: don’t take your precious old photographs and slip them in cheap plastic folders and scrapbooks available at the department stores! And for heaven’s sake… don’t try to repair or mount anything with tape from your regular tape dispenser!!

Acid free tape, acid free paper and acid free photo pockets are a must to prevent damage to your genealogy materials. A few lucky genealogists living in high arts and museum districts of big cities will have access to local stores selling quality preservation materials. For the rest of us our best bet is online stores selling high quality preservation materials.

Finding President Obama's Irish ancestry had a bit 'o the (yes) luck of the green in it. During Obama's run for the presidency Megan Smolenyak was quoted as a genealogist in a press release announcing that he was part Irish. That bit 'o luck started people inquiring of her and she naturally turned to genealogy tools and started digging.

No one knew where his family was from in Ireland, and the quest led Megan to a pair of tombstones with Obama's fourth great-grandfather and corresponding grand uncle. This in turn led to the President's third great-grandfather, Fulmoth Kearney. The Kearney's had hailed from Moneygall.

Read the full article here:

Here are Megan Smolenyak's 5 Genealogy Secrets

1. Be methodical and organized.
2. Remember that everything is not online: search real places!
3. Remember cemeteries.
4. Don't believe everything the family tells you until verified
5. Connect!

And finally, why do we all do it?