A Blog is Just a Blog - or is it?

Becky Jamison [Mea Culpa! This should be Becky Wiseman] recently posted on her blog about Genealogy old-timers who have been blogging for several years. She missed my blog but Henk van Kampen of Trace Your Dutch Roots kindly pointed out to Becky that Olive Tree Genealogy Blog has been around since 2003.

That started me thinking about when I first started blogging, when I first heard the word "Blog" and how many blogs I have now. So I made a list, as I'm pretty sure many people don't realize how many blogs I maintain. Or try to maintain. Some, like this blog, get my full-time attention. Others are a bit more hit and miss, I post on them when I can (and wish I had more time to write more!) Some I have fun with, some I take very seriously.

My first blog was this one, Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. My first post was on February 9, 2003 on the Almshouse Records of New YOrk City 1855-1858 which I had just put online. I started that Blog after my friend Steve Johnson of Genealogy and How talked to me about blogging.

I started Olive Tree Genealogy blog as an announcement spot - somewhere to let genealogists know about all the terrific genealogy records I was transcribing and putting online. Eventually I expanded the scope to include announcements of other sites' new records, and this year I began doing some personal ramblings.

Here's a brief list of my other blogs, when I started them, and what they're all about. Most are genealogy related, but others are more personal in nature

July 2004: Started Family Bibles Blog. It was set up as a home where folks could put donated family bible records.

July 2004: Started Past Voices: Letters Home Blog. Established to take the overflow of old letters and postcards from ancestors found on my Past Voices: Letters Home website

November 2004: Started Paper Trail Blog. Established to take the overflow of old documents (birth, marriage and death certificates, land records, wills, etc) from the Paper Trail section of my website Olive Tree Extras

May 1, 2005: Started Antique Hunter Blog. This is a blog about antiques - where to find them, interesting antiques in my personal collection and information about antiques in general

May 1, 2005: Started Tea For Two Blog. My husband and I started this blog to review tea rooms and talk about all things tea. We expanded into the coffee arena too.

June 19, 2005: Started Chicken Chat Blog. This blog is written by both my husband and myself, and is our ramblings about out misadventures raising chickens, turkeys, ducks and guinea fowl. It includes humourous or informative news articles about - you guessed it - chickens!

August 6, 2008: Started Ollie's Yummy in Your Tummy Blog. I love to cook and this is my cooking blog. It's just a baby but has recipes and tips for cooking, decorating a fun table, etc

I hope you check out my blogs and other blogs too. They're a great way to have fun, stay informed and find out more about that online often faceless presence!