Page 98 – Family History is my passion and my goal is to help others find and share that same passion.

Thirty five years ago we were all sitting in front of our televisions watching the first episode of an eight episode miniseries called “Roots” based on the book by Alex Haley. The miniseries ran from January 23-30, 1977.

“Roots” held the attention of a continent for eight straight nights. I can’t think of a television show that would do that now. There were about 55 actors starring in the production. The time period was from about 1750 through to 1870.

This was a television show that changed a lot of lives. Many people began researching their family history because of watching “Roots.” It made people curious about those who came before them.

How did “Roots” change your life? Did you start researching your family history because of “Roots?” Do you remember sitting in front of the television to watch this epic story?

Ruth’s Recommendations

Leave a Comment / By Ruth Blair

Here are my favourite blog posts from this past week.

The Irish Genealogy News blog had a post called “Emigrant ancestors in Southern Ontario?” which alerts us to the fact that FindMyPast Ireland has released a collection called “Canadian Emigration: 1826 Parliamentary papers” The official title of the documents is “Return of the Assessed Value of the Townships in the Newcastle District in Western Canada, which were settled by Pauper Emigrants from Ireland, between the years 1825 and 1828 at the public expense: Of the number of various Emigration Societies formed in Canada in 1840, by Canadian Proprietors desirous of Settling Emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland upon their Estates. (1848).”

Newcastle District is between the Home District and Midland District. All or parts of the following counties fall under Newcastle District: Durham, Haliburton, Muskoka, Northumberland, Peterborough and Victoria.

Irish Genealogy News also tells us about “Cork City non-conformist baptisms – online and free.”

The National Library of Ireland blog has a post called “Some reflections on The Dead.” This is about the short story entitled “The Dead” written by James Joyce. I love James Joyce and have read all but one of his works. “The Dead” was made into a wonderful movie by John Houston. The post is written by Felix M. Larkin and looks at the inspirations for parts of the story.

The Irish Story blog has a post called “A Pale trip through history” where the author, John Dorney, tells of his cycling trip from south Dublin to Carlingford and the area known as “The Pale.” He looks at the history of the area and shares a few adventures. Some believe the term “beyond the pale” originated from this area in Ireland.

John Reid of the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog had a post called “Perils of closer scrutiny” where he reminds us all to look at online indexes very closely before ruling out that our ancestor is not to be found.

Barry Ewell has started his own blog called “Barry’s Blog on Genealogy” why not visit the blog to see what you can find. The most recent post is a webinar on “Why digital preservation is important to you.”

Other bloggers that write their own lists are:

Genea-Musings – Best of the Genea-Blogs

TransylvanianDutch – Week in Review

British and Irish Genealogy

Are there any postings in the last week that you think need to be on this list? Let me know in the comments below.