Tuesday, December 13, 2011

LongLostRelatives.net is Two Today!

It's really hard to believe that I've been blogging for two years! A lot has happened in my genealogy world since I made my first query-type post on LongLostRelatives.net. My first post was certainly intended to be cousin bait to find any descendants of my mother's first cousin, Evelyn Bellinger Gibbons. It took a while, but about a year and a half later, her great granddaughter posted a comment on that blog post. I will never underestimate the power of the internet.

I've blogged a little less in 2011 than in 2010, but logging 214 posts in 2011 shows I haven't really been slacking - I've just been busy mining new online resources to aid my family history research and I've managed to get to a few genealogy conferences this year.

The year in review:

  • This year I began giving some speeches/presentations about genealogy - primarily genealogy blogging. What's interesting is that this is something that I had been wanting to do, but hadn't really intended to get started for another year or so. The speaking engagements I had this year were all from people who approached me to speak - not from my soliciting any "gigs." I got started in March by speaking to a class of University of Nebraska-Lincoln teacher's college students. They were tasked with the assignment to do their own family history and learn how to create a lesson plan for their future students once they become teachers.
  • In July, I was asked to speak about genealogy blogging at the Land Records and Genealogy Symposium at the Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, Nebraska. My friend and fellow blogger, Thomas MacEntee, spoke at the conference about using social media for genealogy. Don't think that I wasn't a little bit nervous talking about genealogy blogging with the genealogy blogger ninja in the audience!
  • In August, I had a blast talking about blogging with a group at the Omaha Public Library. I even got to meet a potential cousin who is researching the Pecht family from the same county in Pennsylvania where I'm researching my Pecht line.
  • In January, I submitted my DNA sample to 23andme. While I received some correspondence from potential cousins in the early weeks of using the web site, I've been more than a little disappointed with the lack of response from people I've contacted. I don't understand why someone would register for the Family Finder and then not respond to inquiries to see if and how we are related. Perhaps the "aha moment" is still in my future.
  • I attended the Spring and Fall conferences of the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society, which were great fun. I'm enjoying those even more now that I'm getting to know a few more people.
  • In October, I was a table host for the Family History Fair sponsored by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society. I shared my experiences with blogging and demonstrated the Flip-Pal mobile scanner.
  • Also in October, I attended Gail Blankenau's workshop at the Cass County Historical Museum in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. As always, I learned a lot from Gail and even found some information on my Cass County kin!
  • I recently learned that I have been named the publicity chair of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society for 2012. I'm looking forward to some new challenges with this responsibility in the coming year.
  • In March, I attended a workshop on caring for family photographs at the Nebraska State Historical Society. It was great to meet up with my genealogy and Facebook friends Judy Shutts and Kathy Wait Myers.
  • In June, I started sharing some images from a tiny photo book that belonged to my grandmother, Sina Bellinger Kelly. This is an ongoing series on LongLostRelatives.net.
  • In July, I marked my 500th blog post.
It has definitely been quite a year; a year of new discoveries and new friendships. While others are faced with brick walls, I have been faced with the genealogy tsunami - so much information, paper and photographs that I am completely overwhelmed at assimilating, cataloging, archiving and sharing it all. But isn't that what makes genealogy great?

21 comments:

  1. Congratulations...it's be a joy to read your posts. Keep 'em coming.

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  2. Thanks, Barb! It's always reassuring to know that you're always reading!

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  3. Congratulations, Susan, on all your achievements in 2 years of blogging. I look forward to reading more of your posts.

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  4. Congratulation! I've enjoyed following you and look forward to reading more in the future.

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  5. Congratulations, I'm with Barb, reading!! and even better, learning!! Thanks for a great blog.

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  6. Happy blogiversary, Susan! Lookng forward to more posts!

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  7. Susan, congratulations on your second blogiversary!

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  8. Congratulations, Susan! You've had a full year and done a wonderful job sharing it with us.

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  9. Happy Blogiversary to you! Time flies doesn't it? Congrats!

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  10. Congrats on two great years, Susan! You've really accomplished a lot!

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  11. Thanks to all of you for the kind comments and well wishes. I really appreciate it!

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  12. Congratulations, Susan! I always look forward to reading your blog.

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  13. Congratulations, Susan!. I always enjoy your blog. Best wishes for many more years to come.

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  14. Congratulations on two years. I believe it is an accomplishment to keep going so strongly. Here's to many more years!

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  15. Congrats on two years. Really enjoyed the review of your year... it was a busy-growth year. Good for you1 2012 will be even more so, I'm confident! Always look forward to each post... ;-)

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  16. Happy Second Blogiversary ~ and sorry I'm "a day late and a dollar short"! You always have such great posts - I look forward to many more in the coming years.

    And hey - you and Jenna and I really need to do that genea-reunion...maybe in KC?? (although I would be up for anything!)

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  17. Happy Belated Second Blogiversary! Yours is one of my favorite blogs. I always look forward to whatever you have to say.

    Looking forward to another two+ years from you.

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  18. Congratulations on your blogiversary and also on what a busy and successful year you have had. Looking forward to your next post :-) Jo

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  19. Please accept my belated congratulations to you!

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