New Look

If you are viewing this post from the blog, you already know that I've changed the look of the blog. I wanted to put a photo that meant more to my personal genealogy than the Albuquerque skyline, so I picked my parent's wedding photo as the title image. I also picked a template that was easier to view and read.

If you are reading this post via email, check out the new looks by going to my blog at http://nmgenealogy.blogspot.com.

I've also changed the look of the New Mexico Genealogical Society Blog. Check it out at http://nmgsblog.blogspot.com.

Poetry and Genealogy

I found a post by George Geder, a family historian and photo restoration artist: Genealogy and the Poetry Jam. While attending a poetry slam in Santa Fe, he noticed that some of the contestants recited poetry about their ancestors. He suggests genealogical conferences should host poetry slams for genealogists who wish to honor their ancestors in verse. I think it's a great idea.

In his post he includes a poem that he wrote about one of his ancestors, which based on an obituary that he read. To read his post, click on this link.

Obama Pick Claims New Mexico Family Ties

President-Elect Barack Obama's nominee for Interior Secretary claims a New Mexican genealogy going back to the late 16th Century. Colorado's United States Senator Ken Salazar announced during his presentation earlier this month, that his family has been in what is now the Western United States for more than four centuries. He claims that he can trace his lineage back to late 1500s Santa Fe. Of course, Santa Fe has only been around since the early 1600s, but we get the picture.

If he is claiming his lineage through his Salazar surname, his family may have not arrived in New Mexico until 1625 or later. In his book "Origins of New Mexico Families", Fray Angelico Chavez notes that a Francisco de Salazar appears in records as a soldier-escort at that time. Of course, Senator Salazar may have been refering to another line in his genealogy.

Another source, Congresspedia, claims that Salazar can trace his lineage back to 12th Century Spain.

Senator Ken Salazar has an older brother who is also in the United States Congress, Representative John T. Salazar. The elder Salazar brother had been vetted for Agricultural Secretary, but was not appointed to the post.

It would be interesting to find out more about Senator Salazar's family. Of course, until proof is offered, his claim is unverified. However, it is not unlikely that he does have New Mexico roots going back a number of centuries.

Click on this link to read the story about Senator Salazar's appointment.

Chavez's "Origin of New Mexico Families" and other books of New Mexico history and genealogy can be found on the New Mexico Genealogical Society link to Amazon.com. Using this link allows for a portion of your payment for books and other items to go to the New Mexico Genealogical Society, which we use to help out the Albuquerque Special Collections Library. Please use this link whenever your are on Amazon.com.

By the way, books published by the New Mexico Genealogical Society may be found on our website at this link.

This article was also posted on the New Mexico Genealogical Society blog.

8 Things About Me That I Bet You Didn't Know - The Meme

Well, I got tagged by Kathy at Kathy's Genealogy Blog to participate in the meme "8 Things About Me That I Bet You Didn't Know". Below are my eight things:

1. Although my lineage goes back four centuries in New Mexico, I myself was born in Nevada.



2. My last ancestors to be born outside of New Mexico were born in the 1830s. Samuel Zimmerly was from Switzerland, and Phillip Bourguignon was from Germany. Both came to New Mexico as American soldiers.



3. I am a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a group that re-creates Medieval and Renaissance Europe. My wife is a member, too.



4. My wife and I got married dressed in Renaissance clothing. I was a dashing Spaniard, she was in garb that was part French and ... something else..... (I'm either a bad husband for not knowing, or not up to speed on fashion.)

5. For the life of me, I can't spell "Renaissance". I had to use a spell checker to spell it right for this article.

6. However, I can spell "Medieval".

7. My favorite holiday is Christmas. I collect Santas.

8. I'm only two degrees of seperation from Barack Obama. I once had a one to one conversation with New Mexican Governor, former presidential candidate, and current Commerce Secretary nominee Bill Richardson. He commented on a letter to the editor that I wrote. I also spoke to him on the phone twice: once when I was applying to become his intern when he was a U.S. Congressman (I didn't get the job), and the second time when he called my sister and me to give his condolences for my father's death (my dad was a big political supporter of his.) Okay, I'm a name dropper, what can I say.

The rules for this meme are:

1. Each player starts with eight random fact/habits about themselves.

2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

3. A the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their name.

4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

Tag, your it! These are the eight people I've tagged for this meme:

* Stephen at Steve's Genealogy Blog

* Renee at Renee's Genealogy Blog

* Maureen at the Photo Detective

* Debra at the Ancestry Detective

* Kathyrn at Looking for Ancestors

* Jennifer at Rainy Day Genealogy Readings

* Lorine at The Paper Trail

* Sasha at Memory Lane

Influencing Others to Blog Their Genealogy

I just received a message on my Facebook page that one of my blog posts actually influenced someone to blog their own genealogy.

Kathy Brady-Blake read my post "How to Create Your Own Genealogy Blog" and decided to "just do it" and create her own blog.

Check out her site: "Kathy's Genealogy Blog".

Corrido Compuesto al Joven Edy Zimmerly

Below is a song titled "Corrido Compuesto al Joven Edy Zimmerly". It is a funeral song written about the untimely death of Eduardo Zimmerly, son of Juan Jose Zimmerly. B. Mares, who allowed me to copy these lyrics, explained to me that Eduardo Zimmerly died as a teenager when he was accidently shot while exiting a car. According to my records, Eduardo was born on 4 December 1897 and died on 30 October 1914 when he was only 16 years old. There are two pages to the song; click on the images below to get a larger view.

I do not understand spanish well, so I will leave this to you the viewer to try to translate - if you can.

The lyrics were written by Avelino Lopez.

How to Navigate This Blog

Maybe you're not familiar with how a blog works, or maybe my blog is a little different from other blogs that you are used to. In any case you are confused. This guide will help you navigate my blog.

What the heck is a "blog"?

The word "blog" is short for "web log". Blogs are basically Internet journals or diaries. As with paper journals, entries are posted in chronological order. Usually the most recent entries show up on the top, while earlier entries are displayed lower down on the screen. Most blogs only show a certain amount of entries at a time. For instance, my blog will only display the seven (7) most recent entries.

So where did all those other entries go?

Although blogs often only display limited amount of entries, it does not mean that these entries have disappeared from the site. They are still there; they are just hidden. One way to access these entries is to find the blog archive.

The "Blog Archive" on this site is on the right margin, about a quarter to a half way down the screen. Notice that that dates and titles are displayed. This archive automatically displays only the entry titles of the most recent posting month. To access titles for other months, click on the month desired. The archives also only shows the months of the current year. To access months for previous years, click on the year desired. Once you have found the specific entry that you are looking for, click on the title to access that article.

There are two other ways of finding articles on this site: searching by category and using the search engine.

Below the "Blog Archive" is the heading "Categories in this Blog". These are labels that I've set up to make it simpiler to find specific content in this blog. For instance, if you wish to find out about my family click on "Robert's Family". If you wish to find out about my wife's family, click on "Nancy's Family". You can also find "Census Records", "Death Certificates" and many other types of articles on this site.

This site also has a search engine. On the top of the page, you can find a blank box with the words "search blog" next to it. Much like "Google" and other search engines, all you have to do is put the desired term or terms that you wish to search for in the box and click on "search blog." For instance, if you put in the word "Zimmerly" and click you will get the search results that are displayed on this link.

What is all that other stuff on the right margin?

On the blog's right margin, there are a number of links to other sites. I have chosen sites that I feel complement this blog. They include "Genealogy Sites" that you may use to do your own research, "New Mexico Genealogy" and "Other States' Genealogy" are sites more specific to those states, and "Family Websites" are sites created by people who have family links to either Nancy or me. I also have links to "My (other) Genealogy Websites".

The right margain also has links to special "mini-blogs" such my memorial to my grandmother Paublita and the "Torres Family Reunion". Lastly there are advertisements on the margain, including one for my own "Genealogy Bookstore".

Other things you should to know about

* As you can see, there are many photos on my blog. You can get larger views of those photos by clicking them.

* There are many links within the text of the articles. Words that are in different colors from the rest of the text are usually links. Click them on to access the link.

* You may post your own comments to my blog! On the bottom of each article, click on the word "comments." A form will pop out. Complete the form to post your comment. Since I moderate the comments, they will not be posted immediately on the blog. However, as long as it is appropriate I'll post it within a couple of days. I'll even post criticism!

* You may E-mail articles to friends and family. Click on the little envelope on the bottom of the article.

* You may subscribe to my site! Click on the "RSS Feed" on the top of the right margain, pick a web-based feed reader, and enjoy!

Thank you for having a interest in my blog. I hope that you enjoy it. If you have any questions or comments please send me an E-mail. Or post on this blog!

-RJCB

Volunteer to help FamilySearch Index their records

On the About.com website I discovered that the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints (the Morman Church) is asking for volunteers to index their records. As you may know, the Morman Church has the most extensive genealogy libraries in the world.

I often use their FamilySearch website to search for records. Currently, they are indexing 1900 United States census and other records. I decided to help them by going to their FamilySearch Indexing project page. So far I've helped index 200 names. My goal is to index about 1,000 name per quarter, or about 4,000 a year.

You can help help, too. For more information, visit the About.com page "Try Your Hand at FamilySearch Indexing".

Founding Families of Alburquerque

Some of the book's authors.

Originally uploaded by abqbobcat.

On March 10, 2007, the New Mexico Genealogical Society released the book "Aqui Se Comienza". The book is a genealogy of the Spanish founding families of Alburquerque, New Mexico. Pictured are some of the book's authors. I am the man standing 3rd from the left.

The book took 3 1/2 years to publish. Originally it was supposed to be published by March 2006 for the Alburquerque Tricentennial. However, the editors wanted to make sure that it was as polished a work as possible. Personally, I took about 3 months to research and write the two chapters that I contributed.

For more information about the book, visit the New Mexico Genealogical Society website.

History Teachers: Teach Genealogy!

Presently, I am studying to become a high school history teacher. In one of my classes, we are working on lesson plans. One of the lesson plans that I created used genealogy. I believe that introducing a genealogy lesson in the classroom will help students to understand that history is not something that is distant. It shows them that their lives connects with history.

I found a great quote in a book that I'm reading called History Comes Home: Family Stories Across the Curriculum that brings this idea home:

"Family history offers a way out of the divisive trap of racializing our identities. The ominous divides of race are bridged by the actual complexity of our collective past, and the great lesson of our histories deliver: in many ways we are similiar [author's emphasis.] Our families and peoples of the world over have worked, struggled, fought through wars and hard times, adjusted to technology, and made it to this place and day. Further, by focusing on ethnic origins, migrations, and pathways, identity is constantly enriched and expanded. All of us come from somewhere. Family tree branch into glorious, bushy complexity, rich with a million stories. And our stories are linked."

Zemelman, Steven, et. al., History Comes Home: Family Stories Across the Curriculum. (York, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers, 2000.) p. 6.

I've skimmed through this book, and it seems good. I will post a review of the book on this site once I finish reading it.

-RJCB

Why do I blog my genealogy?

There's a lot of information that I would like to post on the internet about my genealogy. However, it takes a lot a time to create web pages and upload them on to a website. I find that posting on a blog site is much easier. All I have to do is type and click.

Another reason for having this blog is that others can post on to the site, too. Genealogy is all about sharing information. This site makes it easy for you the reader to comment on my findings, to send me your own family information or to ask questions. Please remember, though, that when you post on this site you are posting to the internet. Don't post any information that you don't want published for the world to read.