Approved Ancestor Award - Update

Last December I wrote the following post about the Approved Ancestor Award:

"Recently I was given the Approved Ancestor Award by Linda McCauley at Documenting the Past.  You can read more about the award here and here. As best as I can figure out, the award is the genealogy blogging equivalent of a warm fuzzy.  Thank you Linda, because the award did make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 According to Linda it is now my mission to to list 10 things I have learned about my ancestors that has surprised, humbled or enlightened me.  Then I am to pass the award and the accompanying warm fuzzies to 10 other genealogy bloggers. After finals are done and grades are posted, I will indeed create a list and pass on the warm fuzzies."

Since that time, finals have ended and I have been given the award for this post again by Jo at Images Past and for The Scottish Emigration Blog by Kelly at Sunny Ancestry {update 1/21/11 and by Kerry at Family History Research}. Thank you all very much, I've had a bit of bad news lately, so it's nice to know that somebody likes me. 

But honestly, now the award is starting to make me cranky.Of course, if I had remember to post the little award picture, I probably wouldn't have received it so many times. I really haven't done enough genealogical research to learn anything about my ancestors that surprised, humbled or enlightened me. Most importantly, I hardly keep track of ten blogs, let alone the thirty genealogy blogs that according to the rules I must pass the award too. I keep thinking of an anecdote an old boss once told me when he was made a Vice-President with several other colleagues at the same time. Apparently, he said to his boss, "Oh great, now we're like a bank. Everyone's a Vice-President so it doesn't mean anything." He did immeadiately question the wisdom of saying this out loud.

So, I'm going to do what I often do in situations like these. I'm going to think out side the box and make my own rules. Is rebellion allowed in the genealogical blogosphere? I don't have any stories to tell now, so I won't. Stay tuned, any stories I do have will be told here first (well, first after telling family at the dinner table). I will pass the award on to eight of my favorite genealogy blogs. In all good conscience, I can't just pick thirty that I've hardly ever read just to meet the quota.

Here is my list:

1. Clue Wagon: I discovered this blog during the Family Tree Magazine Top 40 Blog voting.  What I really love about Kerry's blog is her slightly snarky attitude.

2. Wandering and Wondering: Peter has been documenting the history of the Harris and Lewis for over a year now.  He post excerpts from newspapers, books and all sorts of neat stuff  The proper title of the blog is in Gaelic, but don't let that scare you away, he blogs in English.
3. Scottish GENES: If I am jealous of any genealogy blogger it is Chris Paton. He is totally plugged in the family history scene in Scotland. He knows when things are opening, when prices are going up and when thing are being published.  Of course, I could probably be like Chris if I lived in Edinburgh and not Cleveland.
4. A Linguist's Guide to Genealogy: I think linguistics is fascinating, mostly when it is used to trace migrations of various groups of people. I talk about Indo-European and Bantu languages any chance I get in my World History class. Andrew and Becky provide linguistic tips that might help you find your ancestors. 

5. Dienekes Anthropology Blog: This is another blog I discovered during the recent voting excitement. Many of his posts are about DNA. I love DNA, because like with linguistics, it is a fantastic tool for tracing historic migration routes. The blog is in English, but the language can be quite technical (even for me). Read what you can though, it's fascinating stuff.

6. Glasgow Ancestry: I honestly don't know what to make of this blog, but it intrigues me. Catwhiskers, the author, has been posting images of tombstones from the greater Glasgow area since 2008. Go check, your ancestors might already be there.

7. We Tree Genealogy Blog: What's not to love about blog who's tagline is 'if family history is boring, you're doing it wrong'?  It's a little bit of everything, but what I like is her emphasis on social media and technology.

8. Of Trolls and Lemons: I like this blog because Ingrid is tracing her ancestors in Sweden and Norway.  I have ancestors from the same countries and I hardly know anything about them (the countries and the ancestors).

Please visit these blogs and see if you like them as well as I do. If somebody gifts you the picture of the little old lady, please do play along, even if you make up your own rules like I did.