Celebrating 8 years of Blogging, The Past and the Future

Lowell, MA, along the Merrimack River

I was reminded recently, that my 8th anniversary, (or blogiversary) of blogging was upon me. My readers know I haven't been writing lately, but I thought I'd share a few stats, and perhaps these would prompt me to write again.

Currently, I have 813 email subscribers and 266 followers. To me, those numbers are pretty impressive, especially since I only wrote seven posts in 2017 versus 262 in 2011. However, in these past years, amazingly I have over 540,000 page views.

I began writing genealogy-related posts, mostly about my ancestors, then went to cemetery reports, library visits to report about their genealogy collections, old houses, historical societies, a lot of posts about Lowell, Massachusetts, and then to things to see and do in New England. I thought the Travel and Tourism posts would be more popular, but in looking at my daily top 10 hits, I think genealogy topics still reign (the list of my top 10 is below).

What's coming? To begin with, I'll start with my trips during the past year, they include a castle, two athenaeums, a library or two, three Shaker villages, several historical houses, an old fort, a historical society, a historical village, a few cemetery visits, and perhaps other sites I have forgotten about. Please remember, I am not a scholar nor a writer, so most posts are what I consider light.

I have gotten interested in DNA research, and plan on contacting more people either through Ancestry or GEDmatch.  I have over 27,000 4th cousins or closer, my closest is a first cousin, (I know her); a second cousin, (no tree) I wrote to but no response; a third cousin (no tree), we communicated, but she doesn't know the names of her grandparents; a 4th cousin (5th one listed), has shared information with me since 2000.

In closing, there are two things I want to say. First, I'm thanking all 1,000 or so people who hoped I would have something to share with them via my blog. I appreciate your interest in what I have to say, or just want to see photos of New England. Second, because I don't know what you would like to read about, please let me know. I would love it if you could give me insight into what you want, and I'll try my best to write about it, or point you in the right direction. Many, many thanks to all of you.

My tip 10 blogs, as determined by Google (may be seen on the right sidebar). The links are active.
          

Surname Saturday -- LAY (From Connecticut to Ver... May 22, 2010, 4 comments	3875
Lexington, Massachusetts -- One monument with 77... Oct 10, 2014, 13 comments	2469
First Settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts Aug 26, 2013, 21 comments	2238
Founder's Monument -- Watertown, Massachusetts Sep 20, 2013, 2 comments	1157
Each Example is Different, and None Were Done on C... Sep 8, 2016, 10 comments	913
Grandmother and Me-See Below Jul 25, 2010, 12 comments (See photo below)	888
Brick Walls of Mine, If You Solve, I Pay Feb 22, 2014, 5 comments	876
10 Things I Wished I Knew When I Started My Blog Sep 29, 2016, 25 comments	847
An Athenaeum -- A great combination of Art, Book... Sep 6, 2017

   

Looking Back -- 5 Historical Societies

LONDONDERRY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

MORRISON HOUSE MUSEUM

LONDONDERRY, NEW HAMPSHIRE

ANDOVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS

UNIQUE DOORS ON THE BARN.

TOWNSEND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, THE REED HOMESTEAD
TOWNSEND, MASSACHUSETTS

WESTFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
WESTFORD, MASSACHUSETTS

BELOW IS THE GROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS

This will be my last Looking Back post. I feel it has run it's course, and there isn't any need to wait until the last day of the month to post the blog. However, all previous photos of Historical Societies may consolidated into their own category. I believe I have 11 other photos, and there are more to take.

Looking Back

The One Lovely Blog Award was given to me by Deb Ruth of Adventures in Genealogy Blog. Thanks Deb. Please check out her site, if you haven't already seen it. I especially love her articles about Baltimore.


This past week was spent doing a lot of thinking about the 1 1/2 years I have been blogging, non-stop. I decided to take a little break. My plan is to do far less blogging for a few months, instead, I'll work on my family history, make more trips to libraries, and read your posts.


Dick Eastman wrote Archaeological Dig Reveals Lifestyles of Early Irish Settlers in my city of Lowell, Massachusetts. He also lived here as well, so we both claim the city.


Continuing with my Historical Society photos, I discovered another one recently in Harvard, Massachusetts. When I went to take the photo, I saw that it shares the building with the Still River Baptist Church... smart utilization of the space.

Looking Back

I like to acknowledge those who enjoy my blog and thought I should have an award. Some bloggers mentioned they knew I don't accept them, but wanted me to have one anyway. I understand why people love giving them, as well as receiving them. However, from the very first day I received one, I decided that wasn't the route I wanted to take. But thank you ladies for the three different awards. Please check out their blogs, you will be so glad you did.

The Ancestor Approved award was given on Jan. 20th, and I didn't discover it until months later. It was embarrassing that I didn't catch it earlier, and it pays to read each and every blog you follow, you just never know what might be in a post. And, I think it is important for recipients to also thank the sender, which I don't see happening very often.

My Ancestor Approved award came from: Suz of The Hunt for Henrietta

One Lovely Blog awards from:
Cyndi Beane Henry of Mountain Genealogy                     
Leslie Albrecht Huber of The Journey Takers Blog
Leslie Ann of Ancestors Live Here
Yvonne Mashburn Schmidt of ATCO, Georgia, The Village


and Betty Huber Tartas of Betty's Boneyard Genealogy presented me with the Genea-Angel award.


The past month has been busy, and I will be blogging about some of the events in the next few weeks. One interesting thing, I hate to admit, is I didn't learn all I could about my parents and grandparents first and then work backward. I instead by-passed them and steam rolled through each generation rather quickly, (which took about 21 years). But, I realized I didn't know the first thing about my parents, especially before I was born. During the past week, I discovered some great information about them, and will share that. If I had asked questions about the last two generations years ago, some relatives were around to answer what I wanted to know.


Much of this winter-like month has been devoted to webinars, I love them and in one week attended five, and one day there were two. I'm getting a great free education, learning about things such as: Using Twitter, Backing up your Genealogy Data, Tracing Female Ancestors, Writing your Personal History, two on Blogging, and several on RootsMagic4. I hope you have been able to take advantage of them, some are still available to listen to/see and new ones have been scheduled. Most are FREE, so please visit the above webinar site.


This has nothing to do with genealogy, but to illustrate how quickly time flies. When I heard it was 30 years ago that President Reagan was shot, to me, it was like yesterday.
I was working at the Veteran's Administration, my office on the first floor of a 14-floor building, and on the L Street side in Washington, DC. When we heard the sirens and saw police cars fly by, we knew something serious had happened. We grouped together, and imagined a disaster at the White House, which was a few blocks away. Soon we knew the real story. Now, it's hard to believe it was 30 years ago. Did I age, what was I doing as a hobby (not genealogy yet), no idea what I was doing, but I remember that freeze in time.

Looking Back

This month I want to thank three individuals who awarded me the Ancestor Approved Award, and in doing so, I have chosen something they have written from their "What They Learned."

From Jo of Images Past, wrote:  "Enlightened to find that my grandparents were not married by my grandad’s father, who was a Minister – it turns out that they ran away to Gretna Green to get married, probably due to the fact that my granny was pregnant.  Oops-a-daisy!" (I loved this because, as a genealogist, you should know about Gretna Green.)


From Michelle Roos Goodrum of The Turning of Generations, wrote:  "There are so many ancestors in my tree who were farmers. They contributed to the settlement of our great country by moving west and making a living off the land." (I'm a bit envious, because I didn't have anybody move west, at least until much later.)

From Cynthia Shenette of Heritage Zen, wrote:  "I am humbled by the circumstances that lead my great-grandmother Lucie Touchette to marry my great-grandfather Francois Chenette. Why would a young woman of 20 agree to become the fourth wife of a man 34 years her senior and already the father of 16 children? I don't know, but I want to find out. Was it a love match? I suspect not. Someone had to to take care of all those kids..."  (I want to know too.)


This is the first month I haven't taken a photo of a historical society, but as soon as winter is over and the travels begin, I will continue to post them.


Many bloggers will be writing their reviews of "Who Do You Think You Are?" which begins this coming Friday evening. I hope many non-bloggers will also watch this interesting series. Vanessa Williams will be featured, and I'm looking forward in hearing about her ancestors. Professional genealogist, Kathleen Brandt of A3Genealogy will be on the show with Tim McGraw, and I am anxious in seeing her. Kathleen you are a star now.


Don't forget, you have less than a week to listen to Tom MacEntee's lecture on "Google For Genealogists," a FREE webinar on LegacyFamilyTree. This is available to all, I saw it once, and need to watch again, it is that good. Regarding the lecture, there is a short introduction first, and don't forget to print out Tom's four-page handout.


I'm taking a little break from this blog. I am working on four new ones, each covering a surname of mine: Poole, Scrambling, Ten Eyck and Westover, the titles and the first posts are done! In the meantime, if you are hating your winter, you might enjoy some flower and nature photos at my Flower Blog.

Looking Back

Thank you to the 12 bloggers who posted their own personal favorite posts to my blog at Your Top Ten - Not My Top Ten over the weekend. Two were new to me, and I'm now following them. Anybody else can post until Sunday evening. There is some great reading in these posts, and it's a good way to read somebody new!


In my "Looking Back" post on the last day of each month, I like to do a public thank you to those who gave me an award. My usual policy is not to accept awards; I just don't feel comfortable with them. However, I do want to acknowledge them with gratitude.

Susan Petersen of Long Lost Relatives, Joy Burkhart of Tomorrow's Memories and Katie Chambers of  FromLittleAcorns all gave me the Ancestor Approved Award. Thank you again.

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino of Lucie's Legacy and Acadian Ancestral Home blogs, awarded me her, "The Rose Blogger Award." Lucy established this beautiful award last year, in honor of her mother, Rosanna Levesque LeBlanc. Lucie says, "It is awarded to bloggers who keep the memory of their ancestors alive." She (Lucie) wrote me several weeks ago to ask if I would accept, and I said, "yes." Thank you very much Lucie.  

In the future, please refrain from giving me any awards. I've been very lucky with all that I've received. But no more for 2011, please. On another note, I plan on cutting back on my blogs, my hope is to do 2-3 a week,  beginning Monday, and spend more time researching.


I'm not sure if anybody noticed, but I removed almost all of my "Wordless Wednesday" posts. I had way too many posts for the year, and deleted almost 55. What in the heck did I show / talk about?

Last year I wrote the following on December 31st, "The month of December was filled with wonderful blogs about Christmas traditions. Although, I didn't participate much, I sure enjoyed being on the receiving end and I will remember many posts for years to come." That statement applies to this year as well. However, I spent considerable time listening to all the Christmas music and watching YouTube videos that bloggers posted. A few new favorites: Let It Be Christmas Everywhere, Hallelujah Chorus at Food Court and Evening Bells.

"On Dec. 29th (2009), I noticed that http://www.findagrave.com/ hit 40 million entries. The day before, it was at 39 million, I sure would have loved seeing the number change." Earlier this month (Dec. 18, 2010), I posted to facebook that Find-A-Grave has 55 million grave records now. Nice increase.

This month I only took one Historical Society photo, that being the Littleton Historical Society in Littleton, Massachusetts.  (Pictured below.)