Another Cousin Connection Through Genealogy Blogging

In February 2015 I wrote a blog post titled The Benefits of Genealogy Blogging. In this post I listed several benefits of writing a genealogy blog. One of the benefits is that my genealogy blog acts as cousin bait. Basically, cousin bait means that if a relative of mine searches for one of our common ancestors online, they may find my blog and then contact me.

Over the years of writing this blog, I have had quite a few previously-unknown cousins contact me because of this blog. I actually have used Evernote to help me keep track of these cousin connections and how these cousins found me.

I wrote about one of these cousin connections in January 2015. This was quite an exciting and unexpected cousin connection because this newly-discovered cousin is not a distant cousin, but a very close cousin on my mom's side of the family. If you'd like to read that post, click HERE.

Today, I'm sharing exciting news about another cousin connection. I recently received an email from another previously-unknown cousin. He told me that he stumbled onto my blog and then shared two obituaries for our common ancestor, Ole Anthon Christopherson (my paternal 2nd great-grandfather). Ole was born in Norway in 1837. He immigrated to the United States in 1866.

In these obituaries are details about Ole's life that I didn't know about, including his years sailing the world as a merchant marine. Fascinating! I will be sharing these interesting details about Ole's life in future posts.

Genealogy blogging really is so beneficial in so many ways. I'm glad I began this blog. Thank you to my newly-discovered cousins who've contacted me and shared wonderful information and photos with me.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2018 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

Family History Blogging Can Help Others Find Their Ancestors

I am so excited to share with you that a previously unknown cousin contacted me recently to tell me some wonderful news.

He left a comment here on my blog. His comment began with this sentence:

"I was so happy to stumble onto your blog, as it has helped me finally crack the mystery of who my three times great grandfather was."

Isn't that awesome!? This previously unknown cousin and I share an ancestor in my Norwegian family line. My cousin's ancestor was one of the brothers of my third great-grandfather, Michael Christian Christopherson. My cousin also said,

"...and thanks to you I now have their parents names as well :) Thanks!"

Wow! You're very welcome cousin!

My cousin went on to say that I was a good DNA match with his grandmother on GEDmatch. Yay!

My new cousin's comments made me feel so good! It really is worth all of the time and effort to write about my ancestors in my blog. Not only is blogging about my ancestors beneficial to me, it's also helpful to others.

Have you had any cousins contact you because you shared your family history in your blog?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2017 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

My "Family History Blogs and Social Media" Class

In previous posts, I shared the news that I had been asked to teach a class at our local "Discover Your Family Day 2015." The event took place this last Saturday, May 16th. Those in charge of the event did a fantastic job. It was very well-run and organized.

My husband took this photo of me before the event began. I displayed my blog book and my Engle Family Postcards binder on the table and referred to them during my class.

Attendees of the "Discover Your Family Day 2015" received a syllabus packet and this bag filled with booklets, etc.

In addition to teaching my class, I was also asked to teach in the Exhibit Hall. There was a table set up for me with a sign behind the table that read "Family History Blogging." I prepared a separate PowerPoint presentation about how to create a blog. This is the first slide from that presentation.

I brought my blog book and Engle Family Postcards binder that I used in my class and set them on the table in the Exhibit Hall.

Many of the attendees were quite interested in my blog book. Some picked it up and looked through its pages and I was asked who printed the book. I happily told them I used Blurb.com.

Here are a few of my PowerPoint slides from my class presentation.

I had submitted my syllabus several weeks before the event, as requested. Since that time, however, I added more information and links. I also thought it would be helpful to provide my syllabus as a live-link document. So, I included a PDF version of my updated syllabus on my new Weebly website. I shared this with my class. And I'll share the link to my syllabus here as well.

Here are the instructions on how to access my syllabus on my new website ~ Jana's Genealogy and Social Media Hub.

Here's the homepage for my website.

From the Family History tab, click on "My Presentations" in the drop down menu.

Click on "Download File" to download my updated syllabus PDF file.

I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to teach my class and to participate in the Exhibit Hall at the "Discover Your Family Day 2015."

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

The Benefits of Genealogy Blogging

I was asked to write a couple of paragraphs about how genealogy blogging has helped me find distant cousins, find more information about my ancestors, etc. for our local Family History Center's wiki page on FamilySearch.org. Of course I said yes to this request. I also thought this would be a great topic for a blog post.

Just what are the benefits of writing a genealogy blog? Before I talk about those benefits, here's a little background on how I began my genealogy blog.

In February of 2012 I watched Lisa Louise Cooke's live streamed RootsTech presentation called Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101. I had never heard of genealogy blogs before and the thought of blogging about my ancestors had never even occurred to me before that time. I decided to be brave and jump into the genealogy blog pool and here I am today, almost three years later. I'm grateful to Lisa for her presentation and to RootsTech for live streaming it.

Am I glad I began my genealogy blog? Absolutely! Here are some of the benefits I've discovered from writing my genealogy blog:

• My blog acts as cousin bait, which means that if a relative of mine searches for one of our common ancestors on the internet, they may find my blog and contact me. I've had this happen several times. I wrote about a recent and very exciting cousin connection in a previous blog post. This newly discovered cousin lives in Brazil. Blogs have a global reach. They can be read by people all over the world, which is amazing.

• Writing about my ancestors helps me to better analyze the research I have about them.

• Writing about my ancestors helps me to get to know them better. It's fascinating to learn about them. It also helps me to appreciate them and what they experienced during their lives.

• My immediate and extended family members near and far can learn about their ancestors by reading my blog. And hopefully my future descendants will read my blog and enjoy learning about their ancestors too.

• Even if distant cousins don't contact me when and if they find my blog, the information, stories, and photos I share may be helpful and interesting to them. They may see a photo of an ancestor that they'd never seen before. I know how exciting that can be.

• Each person in my family tree deserves to be remembered. And writing about them in a genealogy blog is a great way to remember them.

• I've made lots of genealogy blogging friends online. These friends are from all over the world. There's an active online genealogy blogging community and its members are very kind and helpful. One of the major online communities is GeneaBloggers. If you already have a genealogy blog and haven't joined the fun at GeneaBloggers, I encourage you to do so.

• Blogging about ancestors is fun!

Can you think of other benefits of genealogy blogging? Feel free to add those in the comments below.

Update: I presented a class in which I shared the benefits of genealogy blogging and social media at our local Family Discovery Day on May 16, 2015. If you'd like to see my blog post about my presentation, click the link below. I've also been asked to teach this class at the Merced Family Discovery Day on October 24, 2015.

My "Family History Blogs and Social Media" Class

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved