Yet another year has flown by and Empty Branches is now 7 years old!

I’ve rarely paid attention to stats in the last few years, but I am proud of several.

1. I’ve posted 2,042 articles, including at least one every day since September 2014!
2. My best one-day of views was 825!
3. Readers have taken the time to leave 2,439 comments. Thank you. While it may look like I don’t respond to many of them, I actually privately email each reader.

Thank you – readers and newly found cousins – for 7 fun years!

Many bloggers share past posts that are favorites, have the most views, etc. I’ve decided to share my Genea-Gems, discovered during the past 7 years. They are always popular and, because of the varied topics and websites, there is something here for everyone to explore.

The list has gotten quite lengthy, but here they all are:

1. State Library and Archives (Posted 24 Sept 2014)
2. Historical Societies (Posted 25 September 2014)
3. State Genealogical Societies (Posted 26 September 2014)
4. Ethnic Societies (Posted 27 September 2014)
5. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) General Land Office (GLO) (Posted on 14 Jan 2015)
6. Boston Public Library (Posted on 18 Mar 2015)
7. United States, New England Petitions for Naturalization (1791-1906). (Posted 18 May 2015)
8. Kentucky State Tax Records  (Posted 14 June 2015)
9. FamilySearch Wiki (Posted 22 June 2015)
10. Oklahoma WPA Project (Posted 28 June 2015).
11. WhatWasThere (Posted 9 July 2015) – website linked to Google Maps that allows you to upload historical photos and overlay them in current neighborhoods. There is a fade in-fade out feature on the photo to compare present and past views. Free to register and use and lots of fun!
12. Genealogical Newsletters and Periodicals (Posted 22 August 2015)
13. Masonic Membership Cards Online (Posted 11 February 2016)
14. Moravian Church Records, North Carolina (Posted 23 April 2016)
15. MyHeritage Digital Book Collection for Free (Posted 28 May 2016)
16. ArchiveGrid (Posted 21 June 2016)
17. Book Review: Elements of Genealogical Analysis by Robert Charles Anderson, FASG (Posted 30 June 2016)
18. Book Review: Organize Your Genealogy by Drew Smith (Posted on 27 July 2016)
19. BSO Alert: Brad Lyon’s Exploring Family Trees (Beta) (Posted 13 September 2016)
20. Missouri Probate Records on FamilySearch (Posted 22 October 2016)
21. U.S. State Digital Collections (Posted 1 November 2016)
22. 1866 VA Census of Children of Ceased Cohabitation (Posted 2 November 2016)
23. Revisiting Stephen Morse’s One-Step Web Pages (Posted 14 November 2016)
24. DPLA & Family History Research (Posted 18 April 2017)
25. The Gateway to Oklahoma History (Posted 19 April 2017)
26. Oklahoma School Records 1895-1936 on FamilySearch (Posted 10 October 2017)
27. Tips & Quips for the Family Historian (Posted 19 November 2017)
28. Google Play and Genealogy: New GeneaGem (Posted 2 January 2018)
29. New GeneaGem: PhotoTree (Posted 10 January 2018)
30. Chronicling America Tab – U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present (Posted 5 February 2018)
31. GenGateway (Posted 21 June 2018)
32. Some New Research GeneaGems – Archives & Library Aids (Posted 15 December 2018)
33. History of American & Canadian Funeral Customs (Posted 12 January 2019)
34. GeneaGem: Oral Histories of Aroostook County, Maine (Posted 16 March 2019)
35. New GeneaGem: American Panorama (Posted 16 May 2019)
36. New GeneaGem: American History & Genealogy Project (Posted 28 May 2019)
37. New GeneaGem: FamilySearch Wiki Page – U.S. Libraries and Archives (Posted 26 June 2019)
38.New GeneaGem: Genealogy Village (Posted 13 August 2019)
39. New GeneaGem: Mapping the Nation (Posted 9 October 2019)
40. New GeneaGem: NARA Record Group Explorer (Posted 27 January 2020)
41. New GeneaGem: Digital Library on American Slavery (Posted 19 February 2020)
42. New GeneaGem: NARA Prologue – Genealogy Notes (Posted 8 September 2020)