Sorting Saturday -- My Inbox

I love collecting genealogy and local history books. It doesn't matter if it pertains to my specific lines or not. There is just something exciting about looking through physical books and finding information pertaining to the family or the location. I also lately have been storing up my emails. My mail server has told me - very nicely - that it is high time I sort and delete.

/sigh

Under my Inbox I have several folders. One of which is titled Genealogy. As emails come in they get thrown into their respective "deal with it later" folders. Unfortunately genealogy does not pay the bills; it merely feeds the soul. Hence, many genealogy related emails go in that folder to be dealt with later. Today is later!

As I go through them I would like to include here random tidbits that appear helpful in a general sense. In other words if I find a link specifically on Ruczhaks, that would be interesting to a select few people. However if I find something on "The Moving Borders of Austria, Poland, Ukraine" then more than just my specific family might be interedted and I will comment here about it. By the way don't get excited I do not have anything (that I know of) pertaining to that title ... although it does give me a great article idea ...

As most of you know, the 1940 Census is out! Have you found your family yet? I found some of mind. Others are still stubborn. In any case, one email linked http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1940s.html. It gives examples of 1940 prices and helps put things into some perspective. Using my paternal grandparents as an example ... my grandfather reported making $600 in 1939 as a bartender in a tavern. Wow could you imagine trying to make it on that today! However this site -- http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1940s.html -- tells me that the average 1940 income was $1725. So for a small depressed town (Coatesville, PA), my grandfather didn't do too bad that first year of marriage. Incidently, a gallon of gas in 1940 was 11 cents. Today it is just shy of $4 a gallon!

Some emails I have saved turn out to be disappointing. For example, I subscribe to "The Genealogy News" and one of their links of the day recently was "Researching Genealogy in Land Records
(Source: Genealogy Insider via RSS Feed, 18/Apr/2012) " It appears tobe a great resource but for me personally it was disappointing since I already have several books on land records and I've already done so for several lines in my two main counties. Incidently, a word of advice here - even if you think you know the answer, ask the local librarian or aide for assistance. They often know obscure facts about the area or the people from other researchers.

One fellow blog that is almost always interesting is Eastman's Online Genealogical Helper. Some emails are simply reminder type emails. By this I mean, one newsletter linked "Understanding Probate Records Review (Source: BellaOnline Genealogy via RSS Feed, 17/Apr/2012)." While most of the article seemed to be a regurve of another work, it was still helpful since I always feel overwhelmed going through probate records. Not worth saving anymore but definitly worth the read.

Some emails link off to other reseracher's blogs, some of which are indeed interesting. For example the woman who writes Olive Tree Genealogy has to downsize her collection. After reading this blog entry, I really hope she writes during the progress and a final "this is how i did it" kind of article! I'm not downsizing but I am in an apartment so space is limited.

Well I am only thru a small portion of my emails but I was also able to put some emails - family related ones - into their proper folders and respond to a few as well. So all in all it was a good Sorting Saturday. Unfortunately ... I think we're going to continue next week, o if you liked this rambling, stay tuned!