Honored to be Honored Again!

The July 2011 issue of Family Tree Magazine is out with its list of the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs of 2011. I'm thrilled to report that the Local and Regional Research category includes the California Genealogical Society and Library blog. Sunny Jane Morton wrote this very kind description:

In November 2007, Kathryn Doyle launched this blog after determining that her society needed to "go virtual or perish." Certainly the society is experiencing a long and healthy life, if its active blog and extensive website are its vital signs. Local events and member stories are top topics.

Sunny is quoting my very first blog post – An Experiment – from November 2007 when I was quoting David Rencher and his talk on Societies Going Virtual. I think it is fair to say that genealogy bloggers have had a lot to do with how far into the future we have come!

There are five winning blogs in each of eight categories as follows*:

Everything

• Clue Wagon by Kerry Scott
• Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter by Dick Eastman
• footnoteMaven by footnoteMaven
• Olive Tree Genealogy by Lorine McGinnis Schultze
• We Tree by Amy Coffin

Cemeteries

• The Association of Graveyard Rabbits by several authors
• Digital Cemetery Walk by Gale Wall
• Escape to Silent Cities by Tami Thiele
• Granite in My Blood by Midge Frazel
• Gravestoned by Anonymous

Technology

• Ancestry Insider by Ancestry Insider
• Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog by Dienekes Pontikos
• Genealogy’s Star by James Tanner
• Moultrie Creek Gazette by Denise Barrett Olson
• Renee’s Genealogy Blog by Renee Zamora

Heritage Groups

• Acadian and French-Canadian Ancestral Home by Lucie Le Blanc Consentino
• Georgia Black Crackers by Mavis Jones
• Help! The Faerie Folk Hid My Ancestors! by Deborah Large Fox
• Luxegen by Joan Miller
• Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog bu  Schelly Talalay Dardashti

Research Advice

• The Armchair Genealogist by Lynn Palermo
• Family Curator by Denise Levenick
• Genealogy Tip of the Day by Michael John Neill
• NARAtions by National Archives
• Shades of the Departed by footnoteMaven

Local and Regional Research

• Brooklyn Historical Society Blog by the Brooklyn Historical Society
• California Genealogical Society and Library Blog by Kathryn Doyle
• Eastern Washington Genealogical Society by Miriam Robbins Midkiff
• New York History by John Warren
• Sandusky History: by the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center

New Blogs

• Climbing My Family Tree by Jennifer
• Have You Seen My Roots? by Cheryl Cayemberg
• Heritage Zen by Cynthia Shenette
• Journey to the Past by Brenda Leyndyke
• Old Stones Undeciphered by Lisa Wallen Logsdon

My Family History

• Greta’s Genealogy Blog by Greta Koehl
• Little Bytes of Life by Elizabeth O’Neal
• Mississippi Memories by Janice Tracy
• Nutfield Genealogy by Heather Rojo
• West in New England by Bill West

Many thanks to readers who voted, to the magazine staff and to the Family Tree 40 Panel who lent their expertise in formulating the blog categories and qualifications (and whose blogs were excluded from consideration).

One of the blogger panelists is "far-flung" (as he calls himself) member Thomas MacEntee, author of Destination: Austin Family and GeneaBloggers. The other Family Tree 40 panelists are Lisa Louise Cooke, DearMYRTLE and Randy Seaver.

Two other CGS members are among the Top 40 – Amy Coffin and Elizabeth O'Neal.

Congratulations to all!

*Links reprinted here with permission of Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers.


Copyright © 2011 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library