Food. Family. Ephemera and the Writing Stylings of Gena

I noticed as I looked over this blog that my writings have been minimal in the last weeks.  Well, one reason is life has been busy.  But that doesn't mean I haven't written anything.  It just means that I haven't written anything here.  But I promise I will catch up with more writing on church records and unsual sources for genealogy. 

In the meantime, you can read some of my recent writings at other sites including:

Food.Family.Ephemera is my newest  venture.  It combines my passion in combining women's studies with genealogy and my love for unsusual sources, in this case community cookbooks.

You can read a blog posting I wrote for Family History Expos on the USDA Library.  There are some great resources out there for our genealogy that are not "genealogy" sources.  One of my favorites on this website was a link to 19th century farm newspapers.  (Read the blog posting for the link).  I am going to write more about some great finds I made on this website and will be posting them on Gena's Genealogy in the near future.

As many of my readers know, I am the editor of the WorldVitalRecords newsletter and the GenealogyWise newsletter (and a few more...).  You can sign up to receive the WorldVitalRecords newsletter for free on the homepage and you can read back issues through the newsletter archive here.  The GenealogyWise newsletter is free for members.  But hey, membership is free so come join us!  We have some great member participation in that newsletter.

I have some great articles that will be available soon on the above mentioned websites as well as the blog Genea-Quilters.  I look forward to sharing some great research ideas in the coming weeks.

Church Record Sunday: The Lutheran Church and Concordia Historical Institute

Have Lutheran ancestors?  I found an interesting Q & A on the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod website about genealogy.  The question had to do with tracing Lutheran ancestors, the answer provides information on what records might be found at a local parish level (baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals). In addition there is some information about the Concordia Historical Institute and publications they have about researching there and researching your genealogy.

The Concordia Historical Institute is located on the grounds of the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Their website provides access to their holdings including their archives which is one of the "world's largest repositories of information on Lutheranism in North America." 

By scrolling down the homepage you will see a link for Lutheran Church Records Online. This appears to have some great links related to Lutheran Church Records and German Emigration. An important stop in learning more about researching Lutheran ancestors.

Church Record Sunday: Churches Around the World

Churches Around the World is a blog that posts photos of the world's churches. It's tagline states that it is a "Photo Archive of  Religious Buildings Around the World: Churches, Cathedrals, Chapels and Monasteries."

The countries represented here are vast and include Cuba, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Khazakhstan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and New York City.

The map website, Panoramio is also a good place to look for photos of church buildings all over the world. This website allows people to "tag" maps of places with photos they have taken. You can search this website by place and see what photos have been uploaded for that place. You can also search by keyword.

Church Record Sunday: Community of Christ

Community of Christ Temple, Independence, Missouri. (c) 2010 Daniel Ortega

In July I had the opportunity to attend the Midwest Family History Expo. As part of a pre-conference event we went on an LDS History tour that included historical sites in Indpendence, Missouri and the area. One of the sites we briefly saw was the temple of the Community of Christ.

The Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is headquartered in Independence, Missouri and shares an early history with the Mormon church. Simply, after the death of Joseph Smith there were questions of who should lead the Church. Those who went to Utah with Brigham Young are the Mormons and those who stayed behind in Independence and the area are the Community of Christ. (This is a simplified explanation, you can read about the history of the Community of Christ church here).

The Community of Christ has an archive and library that would be of use for those with Community of Christ ancestors as well as Mormon ancestors.

The Archive holds primary source materials pertaining to the history of Community of Christ, which would include early Mormon church history. Online they have a research request form as well as information  about the archive.

According to their website, the Library has over 20,000 books as well as audiocassettes, periodicals and videos. You can conduct a search of the library catalog through their website. Read more about the library here.

You can read about some of the Community of Christ's historical sites on their website. Their temple in Independence includes a museum with early artifacts. According to it's website, the museum " collects, maintains, and exhibits artifactual materials, relating to the mission and history of the Restoration (LDS or "Mormon") Movement, mostly from the United States and Canada, particularly the states of New York, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, with some materials reflecting church activity in Australia, the British Isles, French Polynesia, and other international missions." Admission to the museum is free. When we were there, we were told that photography is not allowed in the museum.