Sunday, February 15, 2009

The best of 2008: A light that shines again - iGene Awards

It's that time of year again...time for the second annual Academy of Genealogy and Family History iGene Awards at the Carnival of Genealogy! Chosen by the author from the blog articles published over the past year, I have awarded "prizes" for the following categories:

Best Picture - Best old family photo that appeared on this blog
Best Screen Play - The family story that would make the best movie
Best Documentary - The best informational article about a place, thing, or event involving my family's history
Best Biography - The best biographical article
Best Comedy - The best funny story, poem, joke, photo, or video
Special Mention - Other articles of note

Not a photograph of a person, but the image of my great-grandparents' wedding announcement in the newspaper gets the award for Best Picture here at A light that shines again for 2008. Long in search of the full meaning of Margaret Tierney's oft-appearing middle initial, I finally found it listed right there in the newspaper! I love this announcement for this reason, but also because of the details it provided me about this couple's wedding and honeymoon.

Best Screen Play

"Interesting post, Lisa. It is curious how our ancestors ended up in certain places. I love reading about your Tierney family." ~ Lori Thornton, Smoky Mountain Family Historian

"Very good post. As well, I am just finding out more about my Irish ancestors and the places where they arrived in America." ~ Thomas MacEntee, Destination Austin Family

Studying the social history of the times and places where our ancestors lived can give such a wonderful perspective on their lives, illuminating the documents and family treasures that we have collected. In these articles I've taken a look back at Boston of the 19th-century: the foreign city where my Irish immigrant ancestors sought haven after fleeing the poverty of their homeland.

Best Documentary


Studying the struggles of the Irish people who have often fought famine throughout their history has given me a new perspective on the plight of the millions of people that face starvation even today. I wrote a series of articles for Blog Action Day 2008's focus on poverty. In this article, I've begun with a look back at Ireland's struggles (particularly during the Great Famine of 1845-1849) and then moved on to a focus on the sufferings of many throughout the world today. Read this article for a look at famine and poverty - and to learn what you can personally do about it.


"A great post - and thanks for listing some great resources." ~ Thomas MacEntee, Destination Austin Family

These two articles provide a look at two separate times in the life of one man: his early struggles and eventual success as a Harvard graduate and businessman, and his later sufferings from the disease of Alzheimer's. George McCue's story is one of triumph over adversity, and I personally draw from his inspiration often. I hope you'll enjoy reading about one of my personal heroes.


"I never thought about the way the Irish speak English. You drove it home with 'County Cork' and 'River Shannon' examples. You had me laughing. Brilliant." ~ Colleen Johnson, CMJ Office Blog

"As an Irish person I have to say that I really enjoy reading blogs and articles that discuss Ireland from the outside because for me all this just seems as normal as saying the grass is green and the sky is blue. You have some good examples there of Irish speech. Good work on the blog-article!" ~ Colm Doyle, Corcaighist

The more I learn about my ancestors, the more I want to learn about their homelands, cultures and languages. In honor of my Irish ancestry, I would love to learn how to speak Irish Gaelic - especially since the language is facing a decline in modern times. Unfortunately, this language is more challenging than most to an English-speaker, and I have few friends around me with whom I could practice my newly-acquired language skills. Enter Hiberno-English. You may not realize that there is actually a version of English spoken throughout parts of Ireland that has been so heavily influenced by Irish Gaelic that it could be considered its own dialect. In this article I've taken a light-hearted look at the Hiberno-English way of speaking, some of which I had incorporated into my own vocabulary without my knowledge!

Special Mention

The death of memory


"Wonderful blog entry Lisa. My father's side of the family suffers from this as well. I didn't know anything about my great grandparents. I thank God for the census, military, naturalization, ship and other important records." ~ Colleen Johnson, CMJ Office Blog


As I stated in this article, "There is a Mexican saying that we die three deaths: the first when our bodies die, the second when they are lowered into the earth, and the third when we no longer remain in the memory of any of the living." Here I have told the story of the "death" of my family's memory with regard to one of its patriarchs: Patrick Tierney, the very man who brought the family from Ireland to the United States in the mid-19th-century.

Special thanks to Jasia of Creative Gene for hosting the iGene Awards at the Carnival of Genealogy. Also, thank you to footnoteMaven for a the awards poster and a little inspiration in my presentation. See you at next year's event!

1 comment:

mardoogle said...

Great post! Thanks for sharing,
FatBinder

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