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Thank you for visiting my blog!

This blog is used to share information I find about the families I am researching. To see these family names click on the "My Families" tab. Please feel free to make comments, corrections, and ask questions here or on my Facebook page or go to the "About Me" tab to send an e-mail.

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My posts can be accessed by the date posted from the column on the right. Blog posts containing specific surnames can be found by clicking on the names in the left column.

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Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Why I Blog About My Family History Research

My mother (left) celebrated her 90th birthday
last weekend. She is pictured with her sister, 
who celebrated her 89th birthday just the 
week before. They look great!

A very special family celebration and a few house projects brought my blogging and genealogy researching to a halt just over a month ago. I'm happy to be back at my computer and my favorite pastimes - researching family and blogging. 

I seldom research family without thinking about how the research can be turned into a story for a blog post. For me, the benefits of blogging are tremendous. 




Why Blog?

Blogging is my creative outlet. I like to write and am primarily writing for family - those I know, those I hope to meet, and those who might appreciate my posts beyond my lifetime. 

A blog can be more flexible than a website or writing a book. You can write about your new finds, ask questions, and point out the mistakes in your earlier research. Posts can be as short or as long as desired and published on your schedule. A long detailed post such as John Giddens, a Planter in North Carolina, was most likely read by the few readers interested in this Giddens family. However, the very short, humorous post "That's okay. If we don't know, we just put down John." A Not So Funny Story of Contradictory Evidence was read by many. 


His Name was Jacob Giddens. He had No
Middle Name. Please Make This
Correction in Your Online Family Tree.

I wrote this post hoping others may 
correct this error in their trees.
Blogging allows me to share easily. I work hard researching my family and want other researchers to benefit from my knowledge. One of my personal goals is to add my ancestor blog posts as stories to online family trees, thus allowing the stories to outlive me. 

Blogging has improved my research skills. Writing stories to post on my blog helps me organize and analyze known details about an ancestor or event. As I write the stories, I almost always see missing information or mistakes. Finding these gaps or errors allows me to determine my next steps for research. 




My presence on the Internet allowed
the daughter of Marguerite Cook
Clark
to find me and recommend I 
visit her sister in Texas to see their
mother's research. I scanned
hundreds of documents and photos 
and have posted about many.
Numerous family researchers have
benefited from these posts. 



Family members, who find me on the web, share photos, family letters, and more. Some correct my mistakes, answer my questions and share their research and ideas. You can find examples of how I have benefited from blogging in the posts Good Things Come To Those Who Blog! and Was your Giddens, a Merchant?

There are so many good reasons to pair blogging with family history research. As I will never "finish" my family history, I will continue blogging as long as I research. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 
.
Diana
© 2022 





Photographs

Betty and Janet, 90th Birthday, photograph, 2022; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of Diana Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA 2022. 

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101520320/jacob-wealthy-giddens : accessed 26 March 2022), memorial page for Jacob Giddens (1794-1873), Find a Grave Memorial ID 101520320, citing Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by Scout Finch (contributor 47112463); Photograph of gravestone contributed by A Footstep In Time (contributor47345816). 

Marguerite Cook Clark, photograph, n.d.; digital images, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016.

7 comments:

  1. Enjoyed reading your blog post, and I agree that blogging is flexible and a great way to share family history! Happy birthday to your mom and aunt.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for reading my post! And, for the Birthday greetings - I will pass them along.
      I have read many of your blog posts and appreciate your comments.

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  2. Thank you for an interesting and thought provoking post. It's just the motivation I need to work on my blog more.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for reading my blog. I took a peek at your blog and loved the photo of your grandson! I agree with you. As much as I like finding new generations, I really like learning about my ancestors and how they lived.

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  3. Thank you for sharing how blogging about family history research has been a benefit to you and others. I have a grandfather who fought in World War II. I have thought that my extended family might be interested in some of my research and the stories I have come across. Blogging might be a good way to share these treasures. I have never attempted blogging before. Do you have any suggestions as to where I can find helpful information in setting up a family history research blog?

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for reading my post. Here are recent articles about blogging - Amy Johnson Crow's "How to Start a Genealogy Blog” <https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/how-to-start-a-genealogy-blog/ and Julie Goucher's Blog Writing Series https://anglersrest.net/category/blog-writing-series/ If you have other questions, please don't hesitate to contact me through my "About Me" tab or on the "Moments in Time" Facebook page.

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    2. Thank you so much for your helpful suggestions.

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Thank you for reading my blog. Your comments are appreciated.