Illuminating Blogger Award

It's Lovely to be Appreciated....

Illuminating Blogger Award

One of the greatest rewards for a blogger is to have readers of your writing appreciate your effort. Awards, for me are a much appreciated, although unexpected, reward for the research and time spent writing my family history blogs. 

Merron Riddiford of the Western District Families blog  http://mywdfamilies.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/illuminating-blogger-award/   

 has graciously nominated me for the above award for my FamilyHistory4u blog and in particular for my recent post which as part of the Family History through the Alphabet challenge, featured "I" for the Immigration research centre on Ellis Island, a place which I recently visited. 

Thank you also to the official award site, which is  the Food Stories Blog

http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award/ 

Merron, of Western District Families, very kindly wrote of my blog FamilyHistory4u: The research and detail that goes into each post is fantastic.... 

There is no greater praise than that from another writer. So, thank you Merron for appreciating my blog and I do hope you get to Ellis Island to see for yourself where your Riddiford ancestors arrived in the USA. 

I began blogging as a way of combining my love of writing and my passion for family history and historical research. Well...to be completely honest, I started blogging after watching the movie Julie/Julia. I had never even thought of blogging until that evening in 2009, when the true story of a food blogger changed my life!  I sat down immediately following the film, and set up my first blog. Then I sat wondering, "Now what on earth will I blog about?" With my passion for family history and history, it took me all of two seconds to answer that question! I had no idea that there was a whole world of genealogy bloggers as well as other fascinating bloggers out in cyberpace waiting for me to join them. I have learned so much from the wonderful world of blogging. Blogging has connected me to relatives and fellow researchers and many new friends all around the world. It is just about the best thing I have ever done and that others enjoy reading my blog posts is a bonus. 

As a condition of accepting this award I am going to nominate six blogs which I enjoy following and from each of which I have taken away some new and exciting knowledge.

Dance Skeletons  ( http://www.danceskeletons.blogspot.com.au )  Fi welcomes you to her blog by announcing that she is 'having a heap of fun making those family skeletons dance" and it seems that she is certainly enjoying blogging about her finds. With a fascinating variety of titles, such as Gallipoli in his own words and  Interesting facts or things I thought only happened in other families, Fi's writing keeps me entertained as well as being interesting and informative. I particularly enjoy reading her Favourite Finds series of blogs which puts me in touch with new blogs that Fi has discovered. Most exciting, is, that Fi and I finally met in person recently at the UnlockthePast Expo 2012 in Brisbane and although we didn't have nearly enough time to chat, we did end up in a couple of geneabloggers photos for posterity!

Geneabloggers at the Brisbane UnlockthePast Expo 

Inside History Magazine  ( www.insidehistorymagazine.blogspot.com.au  )
Inside History Magazine's blog is a favourite of mine. As well as keeping me abreast of  events to be held by historical groups or libraries, every blog post informs me of something interesting about Australian and New Zealand history and heritage. Blog posts are always accompanied by excellent and relevant illustrations which are well sourced from libraries and Trove for example. One of the most exciting features of this particular blog is the 'Ask Our Experts" facility. For anyone who has a genealogical problem or question related to a historical document, you can email or post an inquiry to Inside History ( address displayed on the blog) which kindly offers free assistance by experts in the field. There is a also link to the very helpful 'Bob's your Uncle' section in the magazine which offers researchers the opportunity to connect with historians or others researching the same topic or family history. Even though I subscribe to this excellent  magazine which is published six times per year, I enjoy reading the Inside History Magazine blog and always take something new away with me from each blog post. Cassie and Ben from Inside History Magazine must be very busy people!

A Family Tapestry   ( www.afamilytapestry.blogspot.com.au )
Jacqi Stevens' sets the scene  for her beautifully  written blog in her profile where she says,  From my family I receive my heritage: through family I leave a legacy. With family I weave a tapestry. These are my strands.
Jacqi's wonderful way with words is enhanced by the soft 'old world' colour scheme in the layout of her blog which also makes each blog easy to read. Blog posts with titles such as Inspiration for a  Namesake and More Hats and Bonnets are  creatively written and beautifully illustrated as well as featuring well highlighted links. I love nothing more than to sit down with a cup of tea and read this blog.

A Rebel Hand  ( http://www.rebelhand.wordpress.com/ )
Francis is the three times great grand daughter of Nicholas Delaney, United Irishman, transported convict, Sydney roadbuilder, NSW farmer, publican...
A Rebel Hand is one of my favourite blogs, especially as I have convict ancestors of my own. I always find Frances's research fascinating, her writing style entertaining and her highlighted links a useful source of information. Titles such as The cook, the thieves, the prostitute and the postilion - convicts transported to Australia  cannot fail to capture attention and the content of each blog never disappoints. A favourite post from this blog has been When John met Sarah - convict courtship. This blog provides most helpful sources for anyone researching convict ancestors or just for anyone interested in convict life. The header on this blog is one of the most colourful and creative designs I have seen.

The Armchair Genealogist     ( www.thearmchairgenealogist.com )
Lyn Palermo's blog deserves a mention because this generous blogger primarily focuses on offering tips on how to research your family history. Lyn shares her own journey into her ancestry as well as providing advice about how to research and write your own family history. Links at the top of the vibrantly coloured blog includes Beginners -Start Here, Family History Writing Challenge, Writing Your Family History, Self Publishing, Everyone has a Family Story - Tell me Yours.
One feature of Lyn's blog which I particularly enjoy is her Old fashioned Recipe Collection, although I must admit to being remiss in that I have not yet contributed to this despite having some wonderful old Irish recipes passed down to me.

Fur Trade Family History  (www.furtradefamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ )
This blog written by Nancy Marguerite Anderson who lives in Canada, began as a journey into the past life of her own Fur trade Ancestor, Alexander Caulfield Anderson. Nancy subsequently published her fascinating findings in a book which has been published. This blog is one of the most interesting blogs that I follow and I do so with great enthusiasm. It is a wealth of information about life in the times of the Fur trade Industry in Canada. Nancy's research has expanded over time to include many people who were employed by the Hudson's Bay Company and the NorthWest Company. She explores Indian life, medicines used and many other fascinating topics related to the Fur trade. If you had any ancestors who disappeared from Scotland (in particular the Orkney area) or England in the late 1700's and the 1800's it is worthwhile looking at this blog. You just might discover that your own forebear journeyed to the wilderness of Canada in the employ of the Fur Trade Companies. Whether or not you have ancestors in Canada, this is a wonderfully informative, detailed and extremely entertaining blog, and one well worth a look at.

Upon accepting this award, I have agreed to reveal one random fact about myself. In my twenties I learned to fly light aircraft. I took lessons in a high wing Cessna plane. As part of my training I had to sit for a radio operator's licence and my instructor decided to play a joke on me as I was only the second female to take flying lessons in the town in which I was living. Unbeknown to me, he gave me a very outdated  manual of instructions which I learned off by heart, and I was quite confident that I would achieve 100% in the exam, something no male trainee pilot had done. I answered every question correctly until I got to the last one. The examiner asked me to describe the signals on an airstrip necessary for a pilot to recognise when landing. My manual had listed smoke signals ( I HAD  thought this odd and asked my instructor about it, but unaware I was being set up, I went ahead, as advised, and  learned the information....) As I  launched into my detailed description of smoke signals, the examiner  almost died laughing at my reply. Despite my protests that I had been given the wrong information to learn, I achieved the mark of 99% and I realised that I should have known that lights are used to signal aircraft - NOT smoke signals anymore!

If you have been nominated for this award, these are the steps you need to take:

1. The Nominee should visit the award site ( http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award/ ) and leave a comment indicating that they have been nominated and by whom. (This step is important as it is the only way that we can create a blogroll of award winners).


2. The Nominee should thank the person who nominated them by posting and including a link to their blog.

3.The Nominee should include a courtesy link back to the official award site  (http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award/ ) in their blog post.

4. The Nominee should share one random thing about themself in their blog post.

5. Select at least 5 other bloggers whose blogs you enjoy reading and find to be illuminating informative posts and nominate them for the award.

6. Notify your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog, including a link to the award site (http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award ).

Thanks again to Merron Riddiford of Western District Families for the nomination.