My 200th Post

This is my 200th post.

I started genea-blogging on January 16th, 2006 on Bravejournal. Already I was a regular reader of Dick Eastman and Leland Meitzler (who I had discovered through my friend Donna Potter Phillips, who occasionally contributed to his blog). Through Donna, I learned about RSS Genealogy, and thus discovered Ken Aitken and Chris Dunham. I also used GenJet (no longer online) to find other blogs (this was before Chris's Genealogy Blog Finder). I signed up for a Blogger account, but didn't use it to blog, merely to search for other genealogy blogs. At that time, I only found two of any interest to me, people who blogged with any kind of regularly: Randy Seaver (a frequent commenter on Ken's blog) and Craig Manson. I felt pretty much alone in the genea-blogging world.

Then one day, probably after visiting Randy's blog, I discovered the Carnival of Genealogy, hosted by Jasia. While I had been plodding along in isolation, a whole genea-blogger community had sprung up and was interacting with each other! Immediately, I signed up for the next Carnival, and in late January 2007 , I switched over to Blogger for ease-of-use. The rest, as they say, was history; not family history as we know it, but I did discover a new family along the way: people who were as obsessed with genealogy and with writing about it as I was! Through the Carnival and a few memes (here, here, and here), we were able to make personal connections, and when I started up Scanfest on February 25, 2006, we learned even more about each other (and perhaps, ourselves) through chatting using various technologies.

I can't imagine not having this community surrounding me. We've stood by each other through thick and thin. We keep each other updated with news from the genealogy world so quickly, it's old and outdated by the time it hits the magazines and newsletters (for instance, the recent issue of Internet Genealogy had a short article about using FreeOnAncestry.com, a website that no longer exists). During the days and weeks when life gets too busy for me to post my thoughts or read my favorites regularly, I just about go crazy! I don't think I would have reached this 200th post so soon if it hadn't been for this community. We're each others' fans.

And so, this is really an open thank-you letter to all of you: those who read my blog, those who take the time to comment, and those who post on their own blogs, either from a professional or avocational standpoint. Thank you for being there, and for expanding my genealogical and personal world. And always, Happy Hunting!