Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Eight years ago on April 18th, I decided to take the leap from a Tripod hosted website (which is still in existence) to a Genealogy Blog. I am still reaping the rewards of that decision! Not only did I become a part of the larger “genea-blogger” community but I’ve learned so many tips, tricks, and techniques for research and blogging!

In the last eight years, I have written 551 posts and received 664 comments. The blog has had 59, 547 views and 11,704 visitors (I don’t have a way of knowing how many views and visitors are unique or the same). The day I had the most views was September  6, 2014.

The best part of this journey is the distant cousins that have found me! Some of them had very little information about their family history until they found my blog. That is what keeps me excited about writing and researching.

I can’t guarantee that I’ll still be writing eight years down the road, but I hope you – my readers – will stick around as long as I’m here!

Thank you!

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Yesterday’s Game Stats

Actually yesterday I worked some more on tagging photos and making sure I had good descriptions.  It was Texas Tax Free Weekend and I had yet to get my grandson some new school clothes and shoes. So to take advantage of no sales tax, we went shopping yesterday afternoon.  I also thought a lot about the biography that I will be writing about one of my ancestors. I have decided who I’m going to spotlight so stay tuned for that post! 

I also spent yesterday looking at other genealogy blogs and signing up to participate in the Songs that Shaped My Youth meme.  I found out that there is a national blogging day in October and the theme will be on Poverty so have been thinking a lot about how to tie in genealogy and poverty as it applies to my ancestors.

Today I’m enjoying the rain in North Texas. We’ve had some lately but no where near enough.  But today it’s been pretty steady so far.  Hopefully our grass will be greening up!

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Day 7 Stats

I didn’t have much time yesterday to post about my daily progress in the GB group games due to the rain (in North Texas we were asking ourselves – what is that coming down from the sky? And enjoying it!), work, and daily household stuff!

Yesterday evening I scanned 24 photos as part of Category 3: Organize Your Research, part E. Create at least 20 data entries in your database, or scan 20 photos, or scan 20 documents.  After scanning, I went through and added Descriptions, who was the photographer (if known), who was in the picture, where it was taken, why it was taken (reunion, party, holiday, etc.), year it was taken (if known), how those in the picture are related, and who has ownership of the original photo.  My software asks for Keywords instead of Tags so I inserted all the keywords I could think of in that area.  I also made sure they were in the correct digital files.

So for that Category, I am now up to the completion of 2 items which gives me a Silver Medal.

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Shout Outs

Shades of the Departed posted the 4th Edition Smile for the Camera this morning. The theme is My Favorite Photograph.  There are 40 participants and they are all great!  Go check it out and see how some folks had a difficult time picking just one favorite!  My entry is Two Sisters and shows a cherished photo of my grandmother and her sister when they were young.

Also – if you aren’t part of the genea-bloggers on Facebook and are wondering what other genealogy blogs are out there, please go to An Index of Site Titles Published by Members of GBers on FB with Links to those sites.  Terry Thornton of Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi put together a really wonderful list.  Check out these blogs and make sure to leave comments and bookmark them.  Thanks, Terry!

Have you read Sheri Fenley’s The Educated Genealogist  Sheri’s also participating in the Genea-Blogger Group Games and has listed several of her accomplishments.  She’s also written a series of posts concerning her trip to Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.  What a sense of humor you have, Sheri!  Please go check out her blog and make sure you tell her you stopped by!

Jasia, at Creative Gene responded to questions asked by two other writers.  Tim Abbott at Walking the Berkshires wanted to know what were the 10 most influential albums of your youth in The Soundtracks of My Salad Days.  Jasia responded to this question with this answer.  The other question was posed by Schelly at Tracing the Tribe who wondered where we’d be today if Alex Haley hadn’t written “Roots”.  Jasia gave her humorous reply here.  I left my response as a comment on Jasia’s post.

Thanks, fellow Genea-Bloggers, for great writing and posts today!

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Status Update – Day 3

Already been pretty busy this morning.  The tasks I’ve completed this morning include:

Write! Write! Write!
Task A.  Write a summary of what your blog is about and post it on your blog – you may not have done this since you started the blog and it is a great way to have new readers learn more about your site.

The Post Below is my submission for that task.  I also added a New Page to my blog.

Reach Out and Perform Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness
A. Comment on a new (to you) genealogy blog.

I just started reading Rainy Day Genealogy Readings the first day of the competition but today was the first day I posted a comment.

B. Join another Genea-blogger’s blog network on Facebook Blog Networks.

Yesterday (as I posted in Day Two), I joined these  5 Blog Networks: Elyse’s Genealogy Blog, 100 Years in America, Gtownma’s Genealogy, Home Town Edition – Kratochvil & Secor” (I also confirmed the author), and Small Leaved Shamrock.

C. Invite another genealogist to join Facebook.

I sent an email to Jeanna from Roots Reading inviting her to join Facebook. (I’ve also sent invites to about 3 other bloggers on the Genea-Bloggers group to join my blog network.)

On Friday evening I completed a task for Organize Your Research. 
D. Organize at least 20 digital photos into folders, label, add metadata, add descriptions, add tags, etc.

This was probably the easiest as the first photos that popped up on my ACDSee program were from my vacation in July.  They were already in the correct folder, the metadata was added automatically when I uploaded them.  I went through and labeled all of them with date the picture was taken, where it was taken, the people in the photo and how they were related, what ocassion it was, and other “fun” and historical information.  I also included the name of the photographer.

So my tallies so far:
Gold Medal in Reach Out and Peform Genealogical Acts of Kindness
Bronze Medal in Write! Write! Write! (I will be working on B. C. & D. of this event as well and hope to finish with a Diamond Medal.)
Bronze Medal in Organize Your Research (I will be working on B. E. & F. of this event and hope to finish with a Diamond Medal.)

The only category that I have not started working on is Cite Your Sources.  I have saved the information from John Wiley’s “How to Cite Your Sources” and hope to begin doing this soon. I would love to be able to cite 50 sources and achieve Platinum Medal status!

I didn’t list that I would compete in the Back Up Your Data challenge.  However I have a brand new flash drive that is just begging for data to be added to it!  Since I did not list this as a goal I would work on, I’m not sure if I would be “disqualifying” myself by competing in this category.  No matter what – I do need to back up my data a lot more than I do now!

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Why “All My Branches” . . .

One of the challenges of the Genea-Blogger Group Games under “Write! Write! Write!” is to Write a summary of what your blog is about and post it on your blog – you may not have done this since you started the blog and it is a great way to have new readers learn more about your site. So this is my summary and the reason I chose the name “All My Branches” for my genealogy blog.

1. The first reason is because it’s not a “one-name” blog.  I am ressearching at least a dozen family names in my ancestry.

2. Unlike my husband who thinks all family trees should look triangular instead of rectangular (see Family Stats – Updated May 6 2008,) I also want to add children, grandchildren and in-laws to other family members.

3. My genealogy web site is titled All My Branches.

Through the web site listed above, I have been in contact with dozens of “cousins” that I either have never actually met in person, have not seen since I was a young child, or didn’t even know existed!  I’ve also met via my genealogy research people who had met my grandparents and even shared some photos of them.  One son of my dad’s uncle had so many children that in the beginning, I knew that I would never be able to track any of them down.  Not only have I done that but I’ve received emails, letters and phone calls from sons and grandchildren of the man and a son of my great-uncle who wanted to give me some good information.

It’s been a long journey that sees no end to the road – and for that I am grateful. For the end would mean no more mystery, puzzles to solve, news to find, sources to document, or “cousins” to discover.

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Day 2 – Organization & Genealogical Acts of Kindness

I’ve discovered that I might need to write a few posts each day on my statistics as time has a way of getting away from me plus other people use the same computer!

Today I’ve participated in Part B of “Reach Out and Participate in Random Acts of Kindness”.  I’ve joined 5 Blog Networks: Elyse’s Genealogy Blog, 100 Years in America, Gtownma’s Genealogy, Home Town Edition – Kratochvil & Secor” (I also confirmed the author), and Small Leaved Shamrock. I’ve also joined the Friends of the National Archives and Records Administration group.

As part of the “Organize Your Research”, I’ve set up folders on my computer within my Genealogy folder.  These folders are Family Name, Death Records, Newspapers, Maps, Military Files, and Miscellaneous Photos.  I’ve distributed 163 digital files into those new folders which will help me find my information faster.  I will not be counting those as part of the organization until I’ve added the descriptions, authors, and other metadata that is required.  Will post when I’ve done that.

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Tasks Completed for the “Games”

DAY ONE

This will be a very short post (we had grandson’s 2nd birthday party today) as I haven’t had much time today to do very much.

I’ve begun listing descriptions, authors, and dates to photos that I took this summer.  I finished 29 in about 40 minutes.  Descriptions included: who is in the picture, how persons are related, the date the photo was taken and the reason the photo was taken, the street address where the photo was taken and any other pertinent information happening in the photo (including photos seen in the photos!).  I listed the person who took the photo.  All the metadata had already been recorded.

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Flags of The Participants!

Miriam at AnceStories has posted the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer 2008 Genea-Blogging Group Games. Make sure you drop by to see all the beautiful flags created by everyone via WeAreMulticolored.

As I sit watching the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics from Beijing, I’m reminded once again how we are descended from different nationalities, from many countries and all walks of life, and we are all striving to decipher the mysteries surrounding our ancestries. Yet we have come together in a spirit of cooperation as we begin our own “games”.

This is the flag I created bringing together my British and German ancestry as a very proud citizen of the United States.

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Opening Ceremonies

Welcome to the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games! As part of the criteria, all those participating had to submit their intention of competing by August 7th. Participants would need to publish a post by Noon Pacific Daylight Time today describing what categories we would be competing and the goals we hope to achieve.

Competition begins tomorrow, August 9th and runs through August 23rd. Scanfest occurs on Aug. 24th so Closing Ceremonies will be held on Aug. 25th. The medals and closing ceremonies will be held at Destination: Austin Family.

Categories That I Will Be Competing:

1. Cite Your Sources (citing proper sources using Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills or How to Cite Sources by John Wiley.)

2. Organize Research (organize at least 20 digital files into folders, label, add metadata, add descriptions, add tags, etc and organize at least 20 digital photos into folders, label, add metadata, add descriptions, add tags, etc.)

3. Write! Write! Write! (Participate in a genealogy or family history related blog carnival.)

4. Reach Out and Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness (Comment on a new genea-blog; Join another genea-blogger’s blog network on Facebook Blog Networks.)

I’ve been getting real excited about these 2008 Games! I hope you are participating too! Wish me luck as there will be awards for all the hard work that the Genea-Bloggers are doing.

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