11 February 2010 by Libbi.

• The graveyards are full of indispensable men. - Charles de Gaulle

  Especially if you’re a genealogist — Libbi Crowe

The above quote by Charles de Gaulle made me think: for a genealogist, the graveyards are full of the indisensable, because they are our ancestors, and without them, we wouldn’t be here. I’m just saying…

One news tidbit worth looking at: A Hamrick family history web site, Little Shop of Memories (www.littleshopofmemories.com) has been updated.  They added new content to the genealogy and more photos to the gallery of pictures.  All sections have updated or new information.  If you have any information that you can add to our record, or photos that you can share, please forward to the site!

I haven’t blogged in a while because I’ve been working so hard on the 9th edition of Genealogy Online. I do think this is the best edition yet: New chapters on using social networking and blogs to further your genealogy hunt, revised chapters on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch. And lots of new and updated links to cool genealogy places on the web! My esteemed editor, Roger Stewart, says the finished product should be on sale in the fall.

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20 January 2010 by Libbi.

A government genealogy service lets family history leap off the page - latimes.comYes, it’s little known. But it’s covered in my upcoming 9th Edition!!

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11 December 2009 by Libbi.

I love words, and thinking about how we use them, and then don’t. One such word is “jitney”.

 

When I was growing up, a small grocery store at the bottom of our hill was called “Jitney Jungle”. Jitney can mean “nickel”. It can also mean “cheap, shoddy, poorly made”. Or to ride on a bus. (Makes one wonder why you’d put such a term in your company’s name….)

 

The Jitney Jungle was where Mama sent us for a loaf of bread, a carton of milk, or even a package of cigarettes. Getting back up the hill, on a bike, with a carton of milk was not easy, but doable! I haven’t seen one in ages, but apparently they still exist.     

 

 

According to Reference.com, Jitney-Jungle Stores of America, Inc., one of the largest, privately owned grocery chains in the nation, operates in six southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It is the largest retailer in Mississippi, its home base, where it enjoys a 25 percent share of the grocery market. It is associated with Delchamps; Sack and Save (McCarty-Holman Company, Inc.); Foodway, Inc.; Megamarkets.

 

 

 

The etymology (genealogy of a word!) of “Jitney” seems to be obscure to many dictionaries, but the Financial Dictionary has this history of the word:

 

 

 “Jitney, or “the jitney game,” is basically the same thing as circular trading. The term originated from “Jitney buses,” which was a derogatory slang term for Ford buses at the beginning of the century. A reporter coined the term by alluding to the five-cent piece it cost back then for a bus ride. It has since been used to refer to something that is cheaply and poorly made.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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16 November 2009 by Libbi.

I’m currently doing the chapter on messaging and online genealogy: Any of my readers have success stories using Twitter? I’d love to hear from you! I’m @ECWriter, and you can hash #GenealogyOnline on Twitter, or just leave a comment here!

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13 October 2009 by Libbi.

Good Mood Gig from SAM-e

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31 July 2009 by Libbi.

I’m considering whether to write a 9th edition of Genealogy Online.What would my dear readers like to see in a new edition? More on social networking? Multimedia? Databases?I’m listening….let me hear from you!

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2 July 2009 by Libbi.

Leading Family History Web Site Spotlights Members Who Have Discovered Family Connections in Five National Television Ads

PROVO, Utah  /PRNewswire/ — Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online resource for family history, will showcase the stories of five Americans who have made amazing family history discoveries through its Web site in My Story, a new advertising campaign launching today. Tapping into the powerful tradition of storytelling, the new campaign seeks to convey the possibilities of discovering yourself through family history and inspire Americans everywhere to dig deeper into their own heritage.

The new campaign will run for at least the next 12 months. The five 15, 30 and 60 second television ads will spotlight Ancestry.com members from across the country and their heartwarming family history connections, including a New Yorker who found answers about a father he wanted to better understand and a woman from Chicago who is opening up a restaurant with a cousin after exploring how far the cooking talent extended in her family tree. The TV spots will appear on popular cable networks and channels such as AMC, CNN, Fox News, History Channel, Lifetime Movie Network and Hallmark, among others.

Each member’s story and TV commercial will be available at Ancestry.com beginning today, and an online campaign featuring a variety of “Who Will You Discover?” banner ads will begin on June 29.

“What is truly amazing is that these miraculous discoveries are happening every day,” said Cheyenne Richards, vice president of marketing, Ancestry.com. “We literally went through thousands of incredible member-submitted stories before we chose these five. That’s the inspiration behind our new My Story campaign - to convey how life-changing a family history discovery can be.”

The new My Story campaign was designed to resonate with all adults, particularly those ages 45 and older. “One’s motivation to discover their heritage tends to grow over time, but curiosity about family history is a basic human desire,” continued Richards. “We expect these new ad spots will inspire people of all ages to learn more about their heritage. It’s very important to us to help people understand how easy it can be to have such a meaningful experience.”

My Story Television Spots

Ancestry.com Creative Director Shawn Perkins worked closely with Director Jeffrey DeChausse at Boxer Films (Los Angeles) to create the five spots. The new television spots feature the following stories:

* A New Yorker Finds Answers about His Father - Alton Woodman (White Plains, N.Y.) never knew much about his dad, who passed away when Alton was just 14 years old. Turning to Ancestry.com, Alton found his father in a 1920 census record as a 14-year-old himself, and discovered that he was attending an orphanage. To help connect the dots, Alton got in touch with a representative from the orphanage and received a package that offered a more complete picture of his father’s childhood.
* One Man Discovers His Great Grandfather was a War Hero - Cary Christopher (Pittsburgh and San Diego) always wondered about his German great grandfather, who disappeared after a short-lived marriage to Cary’s great grandmother ended in divorce. After 40 years of futile searching, Cary discovered his great grandfather in a World War I draft registration card on Ancestry.com. It turned out his great grandfather had immigrated to the United States before World War I, became a U.S. citizen and rose to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Merchant Marines, where he was killed by a torpedo fired by a German submarine during World War II.
* South Florida Man Connects Father to His Own Mother - Jim Lane’s (Key Biscayne, Fla.) father never knew his mother, who died when he was an infant. Through historical records and member connection services on Ancestry.com, Jim discovered relatives who sent him pictures of his grandmother, and for the first time, Jim’s father was able to see a photograph of his mother.
* Chicago Cook Meets Like-Minded Cousin - When caterer Peggy McDowell (Chicago) began researching the cooking talent in her family tree, she had no idea she would end up going into business with a long-lost cousin. Through searching records on Ancestry.com, she connected with her cousin, who also shares her passion for cooking. Together, they’re opening a soul food restaurant in Chicago’s Hyde Park.
* Washington Woman Confirms Father’s Passing - Cathryn Darling (Olympia, Wash.) had many unanswered questions about her father, who had disappeared when she was eight years old after her parent’s divorce. After searching obituary records on Ancestry.com, Cathryn learned her father died as a fisherman while at sea in Oregon in 1970, and she recently held a memorial service in his honor.

Ancestry.com recently announced that its members have added more than 1 billion people to more than 10 million user-generated family trees on the site since the tree-building and -sharing tools debuted in July 2006. For more information, or to build your family tree, visit www.ancestry.com.

About Ancestry.com and The Generations Network

The Generations Network, Inc., through its flagship Ancestry.com property, is the world’s leading resource for online family history. Ancestry.com has localized sites directed at nine countries. Since July 2006, Ancestry.com users have created 10 million family trees containing 1 billion profiles and 20 million photographs and stories. The Generations Network also includes myfamily.com, Genealogy.com, Rootsweb.ancestry.com, MyCanvas.com, dna.ancestry.com, Family Tree Maker and Ancestry Magazine. More than 8.7 million unique visitors spent over 4.2 million hours on a TGN website in April 2009 (comScore Media Metrix, Worldwide).

Web sites:

http://www.ancestry.com/

http://www.myfamily.com/

http://www.genealogy.com/

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

http://www.mycanvas.com/

http://www.dna.ancestry.com/

http://www.familytreemaker.com/

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23 February 2009 by Libbi.

Thank you to Amanda Acquard of   http://ataleoftwoancestors.blogspot.com for nominating me to the Kreativ Blogger list! The rules for the Kreativ Blogger Award are:
1. Copy the award to your site.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate 7 other bloggers. (how to choose only 7!!)
4. Link to those sites on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominate.

I nominate:

1. DearMYRTLE

2. Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter

3.  Ancestor Hunting by Cheryl Rothwell

4. The Bones Collector

5. Sandusky Library blog http://sanduskyhistory.blogspot.com/

6. RootsReading  http://www.rootsreading.com/

7.  Andrea Batcho  ifinddeadpeople.com

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5 February 2009 by Libbi.

I wandered the Internet this morning in search of genealogy related quotations. Here are a few I considered worth sharing:

GENEALOGY, n. An account of one’s descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his own.     Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil’s Dictionary

Genealogy is based on the obviously silly idea that there is no such thing as a bastard.      Nicolas Martin, Article c. 1995

Southerners are so devoted to genealogy that we see a family tree under every bush.     Florence King (b. 1936), US. humorist, essayist, social critic.     From her “Uncollected Articles, 1992-1993” _DQ.

“Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies.”  Bible quotes

Genealogy is not fatal, but it is a grave disease.

Genealogists never die, they just lose their census!

Whenever there’s a will, you’ll see an heir loom.

Every man serves a useful purpose: A miser, for example, makes a wonderful ancestor.     Laurence J. Peter (1919 - 1988)

Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them round to dinner.  Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Results from Laura Moncur’s Motivational Quotations:
It is certainly desirable to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.     Plutarch (46 AD - 120 AD), ‘Morals,’ 100 A.D.

We inherit from our ancestors gifts so often taken for granted… Each of us contains within… this inheritance of soul. We are links between the ages, containing past and present expectations, sacred memories and future promise.     Edward Sellner

Results from Classic Quotes:

Men can know more than their ancestors did if they start with a knowledge of what their ancestors had already learned….That is why a society can be progressive only if it conserves its traditions.     Walter Lippmann (1889 - 1974)

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.     Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.  G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936), Orthodoxy

There is no escape - we pay for the violence of our ancestors.    Frank Herbert (1920 - 1986)
What our ancestors would really be thinking, if they were alive today, is: “Why is it so dark in here?”     Terry Pratchett, Pyramids

Results from Rand Lindsly’s Quotations:

Gentility is what is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone. John Ciardi (1916 - 1986)
Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave. —    ad slogan ‘Pepsi Comes Alive’ as initially translated into Chinese

Results from Poor Man’s College:

Some families can trace their ancestors back three hundred years, but can’t tell you where their children were last night.  Author Unknown

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25 November 2008 by Libbi.

The rough (oh boy is it rough!!!) draft of “Life’s a Beach and Then You Die” is now finished. I’m going to let it sit until after Christmas, and then try to turn it into something worth someone’s time to read.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

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