Family Journeys

posted by Brett M. on Sep 1

Ahh, such a grand undertaking, starting a genealogy blog. So many things to consider, so much planning to get in the way of actually getting anything accomplished. But in the end, it is probably best just to jump in with both feet and learn as we go.

Thus, here we are.

Just what do we hope to accomplish, anyway?

I’m glad you asked.

First and foremost, we wanted to be able to share the “nibbles” of information that we find on our genealogical travels. Web pages automatically generated by genealogical software just don’t really provide what we want. There’s layout and formatting issues, and the question about how to get the software to display certain pieces of information. For example, we might have rumors about g-grandaunt Ruth, or tidbits on gg-grandfather Thomas, but it’s difficult to find an appropriate place to enter it into the database, much less to get it displayed on a web page. We do have rumors, unsubstantiated stories, circumstantial evidence, and even hypotheses that we’d like to share, provided we convey to other researchers that the information may not be entirely factual. So, when a piece of information is unverified, there will be a statement to that effect on the subject’s page. We will also attempt to document sources of information and evidence for conclusions.

Secondly, we wanted to be able to have a way for people to comment on information posted here. Did we get it wrong? Do you have additional information? At some point, we may even wish for other cousins and family members to be able to create their own posts that fall within our family tree.

Finally, we wanted the site to be easy to manage. Static web pages are the most versatile, but they can quickly become quite cumbersome. Genealogical databases are generally easier to maintain, but preclude some of the objectives and preferences mentioned above.

So, we chose WordPress. It is open source, widely used, “copylefted” under the GNU General Public License, standards-compliant, and operates with robust, time-tested server-side software such as Apache, MySQL, and PHP. In short, it is fast, reliable and free of charge. It is ideal for running on our Linux server, and does not force users into operating with this or that particular client platform or web browser. For open source geeks like Brett, these qualities are a must.

As a side benefit, WordPress is well-known for being easy to administer and create posts. Charlyn would undoubtedly assert that trait as being most important. Who can argue with that?

Time will tell as to whether we made the right choice.

But for now, we hope you will find useful pieces of family information, and that you’ll keep coming back for more. You will let us hear from you, won’t you?

God’s blessings,

Brett