Quote of the Day

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)

Reinventing (Finding) Mary Cordial

Bill Dietz and his sister Marion Dietz Putland, 1940s.

They are two of Mary Cordial's many grandchildren.

Those of you that have been regularly visiting might have noticed a significant change in this blog as of today. In case the obvious needs to be stated, my genealogy has been removed.

Why? Recent investigations into modern publishing options have led me to realize that information is being routinely swiped from Internet web pages, blogs and message boards for eBook publishing by dishonest individuals on a quest to make a quick buck. Examples? Several free Kindle cookbooks I've downloaded from Amazon over the past month have proved to be nothing more than blatant cutting/pasting from free recipe newsgroups—the "author" didn't even bother to remove the original poster's ID at each recipe's top. Add to this a recently downloaded "internet meme" eBook in which the author flatly admits he has stolen all the material from a popular web site. Add to that a recent article detailing how other scam artists are stealing erotic short stories off free fiction websites and publishing them as Kindle eBooks.

You can see where I'm going with this, I'm sure. Genealogy is an expensive hobby, and it would really, really tick me off to see my work plagiarized, so instead of courting the inevitable (as it seems to be) I've decided to take down my genealogical notes and publish them in my own eBook because, let's face it, if anyone deserves to be making money off my work, it's me.

Therefore, Finding Mary Cordial will now cease to be a disseminator of specific genealogical information with relevance to a few select people (family members and supportive friends) and will now evolve into a forum for the many who, like me, love the genealogical hunt and long to either get advice or share advice on how to proceed in their research. Going forward, I plan to compile genealogical resources, post relevant videos, and maybe even publish an article or two from a guest blogger.

That having been said, your suggestions and contributions are very welcome. Please contact me at findingmarycordial@gmail.com to ask questions, suggest links or volunteer your knowledge in an effort to help others in this wonderful hobby of ours. I look forward to hearing from you.

New York Genealogy Resources

I've been knee-deep in research with no time to write as of late. So, in the interest of being something more than just a personal family history blog, here are some useful NYG&BR links.

If you're interested in getting started with family research and aren't sure just how to begin, click here:

Getting Started On Your Family History

If you have relatives that lived in New York back in the day, you'll want to view this helpful article:

Guide to Finding New York Vital Records

Of course, you also might want to consider perusing the links to Genealogy Books and Software in the sidebar to the right of this post.

Have a happy and healthy new year!