CMJ Office Blog

Happy Halloween!

In honor of Halloween, I have selected a frightening photo taken in 2003. My hubby was in Iraq and I had traveled home to New England to visit family. I only had two children at the time. We ventured up to La Salette Shrine in Attleboro, Massachusetts to view the Holiday Lights. Their lights are incredible.

While there, I snapped this shot. As I snapped it, I thought I saw something; but when I put the camera down, nothing was there. I kept looking around and my mother questioned me. I shrugged and said, “I thought I just saw something but I guess not.”

As you can clearly see, there is a spirit in my snapshot. I freaked out when I got the photos developed and saw this. Of course, the Shrine is a very spiritual place with quite a few prayers and devotions. There is no question in my mind that this is a spirit. I just have no idea why it jumped into my family photo. LOL

Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office

CMJ Office is a certified and licensed virtual administrative business supporting business owners, genealogy and history authors, speakers and researchers.

Ancestry.com keeps expanding itself. The amount of records that are becoming available to research with ease or at least find leads continues to blow my mind.

Ancestry has now partnered with JewishGen and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to offer nearly 26 million records filled with Jewish ancestors.

There is a webinar being offered by Ancestry on Wednesday, November 5^th at 8 p.m. EST given by Jewish genealogy expert, Gary Mokotoff. I recommend that you check out Mr. Mokotoff’s web site. It is chock full of great information including a guide to researching your Jewish ancestors.

What a great addition to Ancestry.

Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office

CMJ Office is a certified and licensed virtual administrative business supporting business owners, genealogy and history authors, speakers and researchers.

I had a client spooked by their family tree.

Why?

It was rumored that the great grandparents were first cousins. This truly horrified this individual. Well, you can’t look at this fact from this day and age. You must look at the past.

What do we know about the past?

Transportation wasn’t as it is now. Communities were smaller. Families were tighter and living close by each other. It was a different world.

So, don’t be too spooked if there is a first cousin marriage within your family. It happened.

I haven’t discovered this within my own family but boy did they push the limits. My family members just grazed by this rule multiple times.

This was proven to be a fact and not just a rumor. I discovered that the great grandmother was sent to live with her uncle and aunt as a teen with her younger brother after her mother and father passed away. Very sad news indeed but did explain an unknown tragedy within the family. From there, you can gather that her uncle’s eldest son and her fell in love and married.

I think the client was still spooked by this fact but the unearthed tragedy lessened the blow.

Do you have a first cousin marriage in your family tree?

Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office

CMJ Office is a certified and licensed virtual administrative business supporting business owners, genealogy and history authors, speakers and researchers.

Ghost blogging is a new service that I’m providing to business owners.

What is ghost blogging?

Simply put, it is when a writer blogs to market a business to their audience.

How can someone write personal thoughts for an unknown individual/company? Well, I don’t do that.

I realize that most people use their blogs as a journal. However, I am not one of those individuals. I use a blog as a key for business owners trying to reach their public or niche market.

If you don’t have the time to blog about the following, consider using a ghost blogger:

• to get in front of your clients
• to make your presence known on the web
• to establish your business credibility
• to maintain your industry knowledge and experience

Keeping you in front of your market is a task that I can handle with ease.

How does one accomplish all of the above?

There are many ways of accomplishing these tasks. Blog postings can contain industry articles that relate to your business, your company stats, business testimonials or letters of recommendation, or important news and industry tips for your clients.

If you’d like to get your business blog started, contact CMJ Office today.

Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office

CMJ Office is a certified and licensed virtual administrative business supporting business owners, genealogy and history authors, speakers and researchers.

Michelle Moran, author of NEFERTITI and THE HERETIC QUEEN, was recently interviewed over at Booking Mama. It’s a fascinating and informative read. I know that I learned something new. Did you know that Ramesses II was a red head?

If you like historical fiction, be sure to leave a comment prior to November 14th, at 11:59 p.m. EST (only U.S. entries) over at Booking Mama. Why? Julie will be giving away two signed copies of THE HERETIC QUEEN on November 15^th.

What a fantastic giveaway! I know that I’m entering and doubling my chances with this blog posting. Wish me luck.

Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office

CMJ Office is a certified and licensed virtual administrative business supporting business owners, genealogy and history authors, speakers and researchers.