If you remember back a few months, I told you that I bought a condo in St. Joseph, Michigan, a town I discovered as a direct result of a fellow Genea-blogger (Cheryl) writing about it on her blog. Since that time, Cheryl and I have been emailing back and forth quite regularly and have struck up a very nice friendship. But a variety of factors have prevented us from meeting face-to-face until now. This weekend we will finally be spending some time together and Cheryl has promised to take me on a tour of the town and show me first hand all the locations that she has written about on her blog... I will be immersed in her family history! How's that for meeting up with a fellow Genea-blogger and conferring on the topic of genealogy?! Ha!
I'm very excited to finally be meeting Cheryl in person, but wait! It gets even better!!! Cheryl and I are about to become neighbors, and I don't just mean living in the same town. Cheryl is selling her house and moving into the same condo complex as me, on the very same street, and close enough that... let's just call it literally a stone's throw away! (OK, well maybe I couldn't actually hit her home because I throw like the girl I am, but my son could do it!)
Cheryl and I both have Polish heritage so we'll no doubt be chatting about research methodology for Polish researchers. But even if we didn't, we'd still have a lot to share with each other about general research in the U.S. and about writing genealogy blogs. I look forward to having a fellow Genea-blogger on my block. Can you imagine a better neighbor than a fellow genealogy and blogging addict? *Grin*
To those of you who are new to the world of genealogy blogs, let me share a little bit of what I'm about here on the Creative Gene blog.
- Creative Gene is the home of the Carnival of Genealogy (COG), an online magazine of genealogy articles written on a specific topic and published twice a month. We have some of the very best genealogy writers and researchers contributing to the COG on a regular basis and you are sure to find interesting and informative reading here. The COG is on the recommending reading list of at least one university history department so we strive to maintain a high standard of excellence. Topics vary widely and I encourage and invite you to submit an article. A list of future topics and a link for submitting articles can be found in the left column of this blog.
- Creative Gene features a good bit of information on Polish genealogy research. Since all of my ancestors are from Poland, it's all I know! My ancestors came to the U.S. at the turn of the century (that would be circa 1900 ;-) and lived all of their lives in the Detroit, Michigan metropolitan area. So I have a good bit to share about researching in Michigan and Detroit as well.
- I have written on many topics on Creative Gene, including series on The Declining Membership in Genealogical Societies (and what to do about it!), Polish Wedding Traditions, Using City Directories, and What is your genealogy worth? I also participate regularly in the I Smile for the Camera carnival and I write a monthly column called "Captured Moments" for the Shades of the Departed blog, authored by my BFF in Seattle, footnoteMaven. I have also worked with my very good Genea-buddy in Chi-town, Thomas MacEntee, on a wonderful carnival that was published in December 2007 called, Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.
- In addition to the Creative Gene blog, I also author the Creative Genealogy blog (digital scrapbooking for genealogists and family historians), the Haplogroup H blog (mt-dna research - genetic genealogy), and the Discover St. Joseph blog (non-genealogy but lots of fun anyway ;-) when time allows.
- I was a Board member and one time webmaster for the Polish Genealogical Society of Michigan, a member of the Polish Genealogical Society of America, and am currently a member of the West Side Detroit Polish American Historical Society.
