B is BDMs/BMDs
Births, Deaths and Marriages or BDMs are also known in other countries as BMDs which actually makes more sense, after all if we marry it’s unlikely to come after we die, rather beforehand.
I mentioned in the last post that the best genealogy explores backwards from ourselves, working through the generations. This is where we focus on those BMD data to unearth details of parents etc. How we do that will be revealed as we move from A to Z.
B is for BLOGS
I like to call family history blogs “writing your family story online”. Since all of us participating in the A to Z challenge are bloggers I’m probably preaching to the converted on the value of blogs generally.
What do family history or genealogy blogs offer us? One view is that they are great “cousin bait” because people searching for the same ancestors as us will find our blog when they search the internet especially if we’ve used good tags and categories. Another view, is that it’s a great way to tell your family’s story in bite-sized chunks which is less intimidating and less expensive than a published book. A third opportunity is to use your blog as a way to leave an historic memoir of your life for future generations – what school was like, how you celebrated Christmas and other festivals etc.
In my own family research, and in my wider research of other families of emigrants, I’ve often been surprised by the contacts I’ve made through my blog. There’s also a great umbrella group, called Geneabloggers and established by genea-guru Thomas MacEntee. The level of personal support and encouragement from peers in this group is quite astounding and it’s funny how when we meet, it’s as if we’ve known each other for ages.
B is for Beyond the Internet
I’m also obsessive about the research we can do offline or “beyond the internet”. A few years ago I wrote a weekly post about these search options, some of which have now been digitised. You can find a list of the topics here. During this journey I’ll be encouraging you to move offline and explore other sources.
Family history across the seas 
Definitely blogging helps write the family history in bite sized chunks 🙂 I also find blogging a great discipline as I revisit the sources when writing and invariably discover some refinement in my understanding of my family history.
I agree there is a lot of material not on line but even carefully reviewing what you find on line can bring great benefits – ie look beyond the index to the actual image of the record and of course think about its context.
regards
Anne
fellow Australian family history AtoZer at
http://ayfamilyhistory.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/b-is-for-barque-bloomer-arrived-1854.html
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Yes indeed Anne…squeeze the data lemon! Far too often it’s easy to skip the detail, especially until we build up some experience and understanding of the process.
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Great post, Pauleen. Thanks for the reminder about Beyond the Internet
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Thanks Maria…unsurprisingly it will get a few mentions because then I can focus on one aspect and let older posts tell a longer/more focused story.
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Ooh yes….beyond the internet indeed….books for example! Alex from
Family Tree Frog
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Books, books, and more books….but not under B….guess the letter…easy peasy for you 🙂
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L is for …
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Or R is for …
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No cats to be let out of the bag 😉
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Nope….
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I can see your series being a great reminder to us about going Back to Basics!
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Thanks Sue…compensates for my lapsed good intentions last year 🙂
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Fascinating. By the time we reach Z, we’ll have a roadmap to our ancestors.
http://www.lorihenriksen.com/blog
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I certainly hope so Lori!
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“Cousin bait” lol 😀
Genealogy is mostly “off-Internet” in Hungary even today… But I love watching my American friends to it, it seems both easy and very exciting 🙂
@TarkabarkaHolgy from
The Multicolored Diary
MopDog
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Cousin bait indeed! I don’t think it’s 100% easy anywhere but if Hungary’s records are offline I guess it’s like how the hobby was when I started decades ago….in the era of dinosaurs 😉
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It amuses me to go online to learn how to go offline.
When I started my blog, I didn’t think of it as writing the family history in chunks, but the various stories have come in handy as I’ve compiled some tabletop books about my family.
~Visiting from AtoZ
Wendy at Jollett Etc.
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Yes, there’s a happy irony there isn’t there? But then those who think it’s all online would only look online so maybe it works 😉
Good to know that you’ve put some books together…I like having something “hard copy” as well. Apparently my grandson recently took one I’d done for their family history class.
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I have found quite a few cousins through my blog. I admit that I don’t do much offline research these days. At one point I did days and weeks at a library in Indianapolis, IN. I looked at newspapers and city directories on the microfilm machine. Now most of those are online. Nothing can replace actually going to the old home places and walking through the cemeteries and seeing the places that are still standing.
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Quite agree Kristin…the joy of being there. It’s ironic that when I lived near our archives I was busy with work and family, and since then have had to make specific journeys so I know exactly what you mean.
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So true! I have connected with cousins on two lines of my family through blogging, and the cousins on my Irish line recently formed a research team to pool our efforts. The family history search is so much more rewarding when it is shared! Thanks for dropping by my blog, Pauleen. I’ll be checking back here during the A to Z Challenge.
Molly from Molly’s Canopy
http://mollyscanopy.com/
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Thanks Molly. I’m a bit of a loner when it comes to research I confess but DNA makes it essential to try to get to the bottom of connections.
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Thank you for mentioning Beyond the Internet. As an archivist (and also a genealogist, although I haven’t had time to do much for a few years) it is so frustrating when people assume it is all online and ignore all our Wonderful Stuff!
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We’re in the same page with offline resources.
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You are good! Two Posts in every post! Will you keep this up for the entire A-Z challenge?
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Depends on how easy it was to find suitable topics for each letter…of course sometimes there could have been none or nine.
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You’ve certainly returned to blogging with a vengeance … or have you spent your sabbatical preparing for the A-Z challenge. So pleased that you are sharing your knowledge once more.
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Thanks Jill…I thought between writing and reading and commenting it might give me a boot in the proverbial.
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No, I knew what I was in for having done it before and vacillated over it before deciding to go ahead. One really needs to have pre-pared the posts to make it possible to do lots of visiting. Next task is the Irish.
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