Why I Blog: Cousin Bait Reels in a Big One

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Back in June 2012, I posted a little "cousin bait" for the Francis Schoffman family. He married my great-great grandfather's sister, Mary Lenertz.

On that post, I listed the names of the Schoffman children (including married names) and birth/death dates.

It wasn't the most exciting post, but it had a purpose. I hoped that at some point, someone somewhere would poke around the Internet for the Schoffman family. Maybe one of the people I mentioned was their ancestor. And maybe they'd have some information to share with me.

These types of posts are called "cousin bait" because you're fishing for cousins so you can compare information for your respective family trees.

Four months later, I'm happy to say that I snagged a big one on the Schoffman family trotline. Kind blog reader Eric recently left a comment on the original post and a link to a cemetery walk video featuring the story of George Schoffman, my first cousin three times removed.

Eric was also kind enough to send me ten images of obituaries and news articles, as well as a 5-page outline of Schoffman family history and facts.

Here's what I reeled in:

That fabulous 5-page outline as a Word document.
A newspaper photo of a 1914 picnic given by Schoffman
Photos of the William and Mary Schoffman residence
A 1926 invoice from Schoffman Brothers general merchandise
Article about Frank and Mary Schoffman's family's historic homes
Obituary for Frank Schoffman
Obituary for William F. Schoffman
Obituary for (with photo) Mary Lenertz Schoffman - SCORE!
Obituary for Rose Schoffman Heiertz
Obituary for George Schoffman
Obituary for Nellie Griebel Schoffman (George's wife)
Obituary for Mildred Lake Schoffman (William's wife)

Not bad day o' fishing, huh?

So you see folks, this is why I blog. It has been an essential tool in furthering my own family history research.

There are those who don't like the concept of blogging. It's not professional like *real* genealogical writing. There are also those that think that blogging is too hard (it's not), or not worth the effort.

To all y'all I ask this question, pulled from a classic award-winning movie:

Do you like apples?


Well thanks to this genealogy blog, I just scored a photo of my great-great grandfather's sister. How do you like them apples?

Blogging gets results, people.