50 genealogy blogs you need to read in 2013!

Inside History’s 2nd Annual Genealogy Blog Awards are here! With the help of geneablogger Jill Ball, we’ve compiled our best 50 blogs from around the world. Get ready for “a glorious and unforgettable ride”. Drum roll, please…

What makes a geneablog great? Many people’s responses to this question via Twitter and Google+ have guided the choices here for Inside History’s 2nd Annual Genealogy Blog Awards.

The suggestion that most struck a chord was from Caroline Pointer who wrote, ‘Ones that take me on a glorious and unforgettable ride. And all the other stuff everyone else suggested.’ Our respondents looked for elements such as accuracy, commitment, consistency, content, originality, photographs, tone and writing style, while a few people touched on the technical aspects of a blog like a clean appearance, and no junk ads. Alona Tester suggested, ‘useful bits like blog archives [and] search, subscribe and share buttons’. Blogs that are easy to find, access and navigate rated highly here; blogs are a collaborative medium so bloggers need to make it easy for readers to interact with their audience. The relevance of these features varies from blog to blog depending on their style and purpose.

Surprisingly, no-one suggested passion, which is an extension of commitment. When examining the blogs for this list, commitment from an institutional or commercial blog, or passion from a personal blog rated highly. A blogger does not have to post daily to have commitment, but it needs to be on a regular basis be it daily, weekly or monthly. Readers also need to know what to expect, and this should be communicated in an About page on a blog. Other static pages such as calendars, contact details, disclosures and other relevant information also add value. Originality was the feature that received the most mentions and this has been a big factor in determining the awards. In the words of one respondent, we were looking for blogs that contain more than ‘simply press releases’. It’s great to see new blogs being launched all the time in the geneablogging world, and some of these are included here, such as Irish Genealogy News and Jax Trax.

The following list of Inside History’s top 50 blogs for 2013 is divided into categories and is listed in alphabetical order rather than rank or order of merit. So without any further ado, let’s reveal which blogs from around the globe made it onto our must-read (and must-follow) list for 2013…

Institutions:
Stay up to date with what some of our leading institutions are doing when it comes to family history. Here are a few that we like to read:

1. Archives Outside, archivesoutside.records.nsw.gov.au
2. Australian War Memorial, www.awm.gov.au/blog
3. Dictionary of Sydney, trust.dictionaryofsydney.org/category/blog
4. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/jol
5. Kintalk, Auckland City Libraries, kintalkfamilyhistory.blogspot.com
6. Manly Families, Manly Library, manlyfamilies.blogspot.com
7. Moonee Valley History, mooneevalleyfamilylocalhistory.blogspot.com.au
8. Perth History Centre, community.perth.wa.gov.au/historycentre
9. Public Record Office Victoria, prov.vic.gov.au/publications/blog
10. National Library of Australia, blogs.nla.gov.au/the-eloquent-page
11. The National Archives, blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Organisations Want to be the first to know when new records or techy features are released? Here are our favourite blogs from genealogy organisations:

12. Ancestry.com.au, blogs.ancestry.com/au
13. Billion Graves, blog.billiongraves.com
14. FamilySearch, familysearch.org/blog
15. findmypast.com, blog.findmypast.com
16. Geneanet Genealogy Blog, genealogyblog.geneanet.org
17. Gould Genealogy and History News, www.gouldgenealogy.com
18. Legacy Family Tree, news.legacyfamilytree.com
19. MyHeritage Blog, blog.myheritage.com

Niche topics and societies Some blogs are smaller in scope, but have a largesse of informative posts on the topic at hand. Here are some examples:

20. Genealogists for Families Project, genfamilies.blogspot.com
21. Local History Newslink, Maitland NSW, localhistorynews.blogspot.com
22. The Empire Called and I Answered, empirecall.blogspot.com
23. Genealogical Society of Victoria, genealogyworld.blogspot.com.au
24. Ku-ring-gai Historical Society, kuringgaihs.blogspot.com

Personal genealogists As every researcher knows, family history is a labour of love, whether it’s a hobby or a career. Here are our favourite personal blogs:

25. Anglo-Celtic Connections, anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com
26. A Rebel Hand, rebelhand.wordpress.com
27. Auld Genealogy, auldgenealogy.blogspot.com.au
28. Australian Genealogy Journeys, ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com
29. Backtracking, boobookbacktracks.blogspot.com.au
30. Chloe Okoli, chloeokoli.com
31. Dear Myrtle, blog.dearmyrtle.com
32. Family History Across the Seas, cassmob.wordpress.com
33. Family History Fun, scotsue-familyhistoryfun.blogspot.com
34. GenBlog, genblogjulie.blogspot.com
35. Genealogy’s Star, genealogysstar.blogspot.com
36. Geniaus, geniaus.blogspot.com
37.Jax Trax, jackievanbergen.blogspot.com
38. Kylie’s Genes, blog.kyliesgenes.com
39. Lonetester HQ, www.lonetester.com
40. Mad about Genealogy, madaboutgenealogy.com
41. Now and Then, lynnwalsh.wordpress.com
42. Strong Foundations, shazlex.blogspot.com.au
43. Stumbling Through the Past, stumblingpast.wordpress.com
44. Western District Families, mywdfamilies.wordpress.com

Professional genealogists We love these blogs that offer a regular glimpse into the work being done in the family history world:

45. British Genes, britishgenes.blogspot.com
46. Shauna Hicks, diaryofanaustraliangenealogist.blogspot.com
47. Geneabloggers, geneabloggers.com
48. Irish Genealogy News, iirish-genealogy-news.blogspot.com
49. Jayne Shrimpton, jayneshrimpton.tumblr.com
50. The Family Recorder, thefamilyrecorder.blogspot.com

Unlock the Past Queensland Expo 2012 :: June 25-27

I grew up on the Sunshine Coast and then lived in Brisbane while I studied at the University of Queensland. Those early years in Queensland, writing stories for my Mum and "publishing" them for the family set the scene for what I am and do today. That's one of reasons I love coming back to Queensland and what a happy coincidence it is, that I'm able to combine work and play in June, at the History and Genealogy Expo in Queensland, 25-27 June 2012.

Inside History Magazine will be exhibiting at the expo with Irish Wattle, along with over 50 other family history and genealogy specialists. There are 39 main talks by 18 presenters from 5 states and the UK, plus 28 free presentations including 2 from myself; "Who was the real Captain Starlight?" and "Writing local and family history for magazines".

The featured visiting presenter is Audrey Collins from the United Kingdom's National Archives and the expo kicks off her Australian speaking tour, which also takes in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. We're excited to meet her and look forward to her talks in Canberra and Sydney, hopefully we'll see you there - book your tickets now so you don't miss out!

Also, the good people at Unlock the Past are giving away exclusive Platinum, Gold and Silver passes to the expo and Audrey Collins tour. To enter, go to the Unlock the Past blog and answer the question, "tell us “specifically” what you are looking forward to at the events".

As with all of Unlock the Past's events, one lucky winner will leave the expo with a subscription to Inside History Magazine. We're giving away a 2 year subscription, which isn't available anywhere else! Visit our stand and leave your details to enter. The winner will be drawn on Wednesday, 27 June.

So, how do you get to enjoy all of the above? Join us at the expo. We've included some directions below:

Where: Centenary State High School, 1 Moolanda Street, Jindalee
When: The Expo is running over three days including Monday evening:

• Monday, 25 June: 12 noon - 9:30pm
• Tuesday, 26 June: 9am - 5pm
• Wednesday, 27 June: 9am - 4pm

We'd also recommend the Expo Gold Tickets, which for $50 pre-booked allows you to attend as many presentations as you can, saving and learning lots along the way! Or you can just book your expo ticket and pay for the presentations you attend on the day. Click here to book your expo tickets and then invest in your Gold Ticket via Gould Genealogy.

We love questions, so drop by say hello and browse through our current and back issues on paper and digital. Our back issues are only $6 for the expo! See you there!

When are we next in Queensland? Happily, it's not long until we're back! We return to Brisbane in August for the International Council of Archives Congress [ICA] on 20-24 August 2012.

Entering the genealogy blogosphere :: Our top 50 blogs

Seen this badge? Then you're looking at one of our top 50 genealogy blogs.

In our current Issue 10, Australian blogger Jill Ball outlines our top 50 blogs that every genealogist needs to follow including libraries, societies, personal historians, speciality topics, international sites and organisation blogs. You can read the full article in Issue 10 or click here for a sneak peak.

Genealogy blogs can  be a wealth of information for family historians, as the immediacy of content is just an upload away. Jill Ball looks at the growth of blogs, and the best 50 to follow. The collaborative nature of blogging should not be underestimated; bloggers get a real buzz when someone makes a comment on one of their posts! If you read and enjoy a post please take the time to make a comment.

The day my ancestor met Charles Darwin

By Cassie Mercer, editor of Inside History magazine

Above: Table Land Blue Mountains, 1826, by Augustus Earle. This painting depicts the road and 

country Charles Darwin travelled between Sydney and Bathurst. Courtesy National Museum of Australia

My 4 x great grandparents were farmers and cattle drovers in the central west of New South Wales in the mid-1800s. Between the present-day towns of Warren and Nevertire they built cattle yards to hold 2000 head, and bred draught and thoroughbred horses. But it is their occupation in the 1830s – one that allowed them to meet one of the most influential figures of the modern world no less – that I’d like to focus on for my Twigs of Yore Australia Day blog.

My 4 x great grandfather Tom Readford was a petty criminal in York, England. On Christmas Eve 1813 Tom and a friend stole four hides of leather, were caught, and handed a sentence of transportation for seven years. In the same year, and on the other side of the world, the first crossing of the Blue Mountains by white men was talking place – an area that was to be Tom’s new home two decades later.

Tom arrived in the colony in 1815, and a few years later married “cornstalk” (that is, she was born in the colony) Jemima Smith. Fast forward to 1833 and Tom and Jemima were landholders northwest of Sydney and employing two convict labourers. At a time when liquor licences were not required, Tom sold alcohol at a weatherboard dwelling call the Bathurst Traveller, but known locally as the Weatherboard Inn. The name Weatherboard was also given to the village that grew there; now this is the town of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains. Pitt Park in Wentworth Falls today covers the site of the Weatherboard Inn. The inn was a popular stopover with people travelling between Sydney and Bathurst, and kept the couple, already parents to a large family, extremely busy. In 1835 a James Backhouse wrote that he’d had “an excellent meal of beef and bread with tea” at the inn, but the room had no glass in the windows and so a piercing cold wind blew through them.

Decades later Tom and Jemima’s son Edward wrote of his childhood at the inn, especially how he would show the local sights to visitors and unlike his father never became lost. Edward claimed that “people were arriving from all parts daily at my father’s house for the sole purpose of beholding this wonderful place”. Edward also told the story of meeting the soldier who shot the bushranger John Donohue: apparently the soldier spent considerable time at the Weatherboard as his barracks was just opposite. Edward described him as a very quiet Scotsman. Interestingly, Edward’s brother became notorious cattle thief Harry Readford (aka Captain Starlight), and his grandfather had been a highwayman in Ireland, but this seems not to have coloured his view of the man who had shot a bushranger as part of his job.

Above: A portrait of 31-year-old Charles Darwin by George Richmond in 1840. 

Courtesy of the Darwin Heirlooms Trust, copyright English Heritage Photo Library.

Even more interesting is the fact that on January 17, 1836, after tethering his horse at the Weatherboard Inn, Charles Darwin walked to the Wentworth Falls along the wooded track (now known as Darwin’s Walk). On January 23 on his return from Bathurst to Sydney, Darwin stayed overnight at the Weatherboard Inn. And so my 4 x great grandparents waited on Darwin, served beef and bread to him and probably ensured his room was the “good bedroom” with glass in the windows!

Their occupation as innkeepers continued for many years: in 1837 the couple sold the inn to Abraham Joseph Levy, and they moved to the Woolpack Inn 25km closer to Sydney. Then in 1842 Tom obtained a licence for the Old Westwood Inn at Cunningham Creek, near present-day Ilford, 50km south of Mudgee.

Tom began life in Richmond, North Yorkshire, found home life and Richmond problematic, committed a minor crime and found himself flung to the other side of the world. But this new place allowed him to build up considerable wealth through leasing land, buying and selling property, running cattle and managing inns. And through his toil, he met the famous Mr Darwin.

When Tom died, it is not entirely ironic that he was buried in Richmond, not in North Yorkshire, but in New South Wales.

I would like to thank Barbara Hall and Neil Hall for their time and toil in researching the story of Tom and Jemima. More information on the Readford family can be found in One Family History: 220 Years in Australia (Irish Wattle, 2010).