08 March 2009

News from the Back of the Filing Cabinet

Some readers may have noticed slightly fewer blog postings here at Rootdig.com. There are several reasons which I'll briefly explain here.

Ancestry.com's blog has taken on a new format and I am no longer writing regular columns them. It was a good run, but definitely time to make a change. As some of you know, I started writing a weekly column for Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter the last week in December. A few weeks later, we christened the column with the title "Casefile Clues." I love writing weekly again, but it has taken me a little while to get back in the swing of crunching out something every seven days. For the most part my column will focus on documents and families on which I have personally worked. Locating new material keeps me busy. My column is a part of the "plus" edition of Eastman's newsletter at http://www.eogn.com. I am also blogging briefly about the columns on my new site http://www.casefileclues.com. The articles themselves are housed on Eastman's site, but www.casefileclues.com is a way for me to keep tabs on what I have written so that I don't repeat myself.

In a slightly different vein, I started "Genealogy Tip of the Day," a blog with a (hopefully) different short family history research tip each and every day. Readers can post comments and follow up thought there as those items are open to comments.

The "Famous Census" site has also been brought back at http://www.famouscensus.com. Content is added there slowly as time allows. We do have our contests again like we had several years ago. There are several open contests on the site right now, including Frankenstein author Mary Shelley and Country-Western singer Hank Williams Sr., just to name a few. Suggestions for image additions are welcome, but contest ideas usually are self-generated.

I'm also working on my speaking and lecturing schedule for Fall 2009, 2010 and beyond. I will be posting an updated schedule in the next week or so. Anyone interested in bringing me to present at their seminar can contact me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com. Thanks.