6 New Family History Blogs in 20 Minutes!

On May 25, 2023, I presented a virtual webinar sponsored by the Allen County Public Library in Indiana entitled “Using Blogs to Share Family History Writing”. The audience was one of the largest I have addressed on this subject.

Earlier that day, I made the decision to offer a complementary blogging workshop with the intent to help people create new family history blogs! It is my belief that blogs provide an excellent platform to share one’s research and family history stories.

Attendees who were interested in the workshop were asked to put their emails in the chat log. Twenty four people did so.  Among those, fourteen people filled out a survey created to gather their ideas and thoughts about why they wanted to create a blog and what/who would their blogs be about. The final workshop count got reduced to six participants, who were all eager and aspirant to be new blog authors. 

And now they are! After a demonstration on Zoom, the participants were given twenty minutes to create their new blogs using the Blogger platform. I am very happy to report that all six participants were successful. The world now has six new family history blogs to be shared in the manner these new authors so choose. 

Some of the motivations shared from the survey include:

1. Blogging appeals to write bite size pieces of family history with pictures and vignettes.
2. I'm hopeful it will be a good way to engage family members in the stories of our ancestors - and might also make it possible to find family members! I also want to document some of the heirlooms and family documents I have.
3. I've been wanting to write a blog about my family for cousin bait and to use in a family book.
4. I need a trusted non-social media tool to share and gather family stories/histories. I feel a blog is that tool. I think a blog would ignite interest and help record family stories. 

New Bloggers: Gail, Julie, Elaine, Kristal, Shellie and Danette

Congrats to our new family history bloggers! Using the Blogger platform is relatively easy to get a blog up and running, but the real work comes in writing the stories that emerge from each author's research. 

The content and topics of the six blogs are shared below:

    Gail's title:Tarry-A-Bit: The Trubshaw-Vilter Family Blog

    https://tarryabit.blogspot.com/
     I have a few albums of postcards my grandmother collected as a young girl that I would like to scan and share. I think it would be good material to start with. The postcards are from around the world when her father traveled for his business at the turn of the century. They are beautiful and many of the messages are fun. It would be an opportunity to document what I have and tease out the stories behind the images, locations, and messages.

   Shellie's title: My Grandma's Journey

    https://mygrandmasjourney.blogspot.com/

    “Lottie’s Trunk” will likely be my first focus. My great grandmother was born in Sweden in 1864 and immigrated to the U.S with an older brother in 1876. She died in 1934. Her daughter inherited the family home and in it was Lottie’’s old trunk containing some old newspapers from home, etc. I never got to see the trunk and I don’t know it’s whereabouts now. I think a blog would help with this mystery and that we could have fun getting to know Lottie better.

    Julie's title: Forebears and Bears

    https://forebearsandbears.blogspot.com/ 

    Barnstable County related people and stories, Cape Cod ancestors genealogy but also branching out to      New England (including migration topics/Midwest).

    Kristal's title: Ancestors in Common

    https://ancestorsincommon.blogspot.com/

    My GG Grandfather who fought in the Civil War. I have his 127 page pension papers.

     Elaine's title: Trace Your Roots

     https://ukrainiancanadiangenealogy.blogspot.com/                 

     Ukrainian Canadian Genealogy    

      Danette's blog is currently set to private readership only, but here is her content information:

     My central focus will be my maternal grandmother. It’s where my genealogy journey began. She saved letters written to her when her children moved away and started families of their own. My topics will have different themes based on seasons, holidays, special events, home activities like cooking and quilting, and family reunions.

Designing and delivering the Blogging Workshop sessions was a very enjoyable experience. I think I have created a very effective model to offer more blogging workshops in the future!