FGS 2011 - The Who

Many thanks to the Board, the members, and the volunteers of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) for a fantastic conference last week! And to the Board, members, and volunteers from the Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS), thank you too! Both organizations worked around the clock to create an awesome event. It absolutely exceeded my expectations!

This is the first of seven posts I'll write about my experience in a "who, what, when, where, why, and how" series (with a bonus at the end).

Nearly 2000 people from 48 states and multiple countries gathered to learn from and be inspired by, a knowledgeable group of instructors on a wide variety of genealogically-related topics.

It might be easy to get lost in a crowd that size, but remember these are genealogists. We excel at making connections!

Seeing Paula Stuart-Warren at the Thursday night Geneabloggers gathering was like old home week. I met Paula last year when she presented at the Anoka County Genealogical Society. Her warmth and passion for family history is unforgettable. Meeting Thomas MacEntee was a treat; he's just as focused and charismatic in person as I imagined from reading his blogs. Then there was Sean Lamb, Randy Seaver and other bloggers ~ neat to finally meet in person.

While at the conference I connected with an Illinois friend I hadn't seen in far too long. I met an 80 year young gentleman who was technically (and socially) blessed. We ate breakfast with knowledgeable sisters and lunch with Salt Lake-savvy cousins. There was a friendly local couple who sprinkled laugh-out-loud ancestral anecdotes throughout dinner. There were people everywhere who had lots in common. In this group alone:

5 of these genealogists live in the area 3 of these genealogists are currently researching

3 of these genealogists started their trees after attending a funeral

2 of these genealogists who had never met are researching the same tiny town in the south

The conference was a networker's dream; so many interesting people with fascinating stories. Such a wealth of family history research experience and expertise waiting to be shared. The connections I made at FGS 2011 made it an experience I can't wait to repeat!

Rootweb Mailing Lists

Five members of the Alsace-Lorraine list on Rootsweb answered my request for help with Claude Schmitt's death record. The mailing lists in which I am a member are immeasurably valuable. I would never have progressed as far in my family history research without them. If you're like me (in need of a genealogical 12-step program) lists are a good way to get your daily fix.

So why was I met with blank stares when I mentioned Rootsweb mailing lists at the local Family History Center? Could it be the label? "Mailing list" conjures up images of junk mail and additional trips to the recycling bin. But nothing could be further from the truth.

One of the people in my FHC play group was confused by the concept. It is a little challenging to grasp if you haven't seen a list in action. So I put together a sort-of-tutorial for her and left it at the Family History Center for other visitors to see. Maybe it will help someone in cyberspace as well:

Where can you find other genealogists interested in the area you are researching? On a Rootsweb mailing list!

Start at this web site: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

Scroll done the left column to MAILING LISTS and click INDEX (Browse all lists)

Let’s pick one of the 30,000+ lists to use as an example. See USA? Just below USA, you’ll see all 50 states. Click MN. Next we’ll choose a county. Click Hennepin.

This web page explains the Hennepin County list; who might be interested in joining and where to look for additional information about the county. One way to measure the usefulness of a list is to see how much activity it generates. To check the activity for this list, click Browse the MNHENNEP archives link near the bottom of the page. These numbers show us this is a pretty quiet list.

Before we judge a book by its cover, let’s see the typical questions/answers people post. Click May 2011. There’s an interesting exchange (called a thread) starting with a request for a recent obituary. You can click on any message to read it.

Want to see another example? Let’s go back to the list index. (Click the BACK arrow a few times to reach the complete index.) How about exploring an International list? Click on Sweden. We could choose a specific area of Sweden if we wanted, but for now let’s click the general Sweden list. Then click Browse the SWEDEN archives (just like we did for Hennepin County above).

Notice a difference? There are many more posts on this list. Click May 2011. See all the different threads? This looks like a great list if you have Swedish ancestors.

If you wanted to join this list, you would follow the instructions on the page titled SWEDEN Mailing List. You can click on Subscribe to SWEDEN-L if you would like to get each message individually, or choose Subscribe to SWEDEN-D if you want to receive all the messages for each day grouped together in one email. All the email fields are filled in automatically when you click on the link, so just “send”.

A confirmation email will be sent with instructions to complete your subscription request. It will contain additional information about the list. (Remember you can leave a list at any time; simply choose the appropriate Unsubscribe option and voila, you’ll get no more emails from that Rootsweb mailing list.) 

BEFORE YOU SEND EMAILS TO THE LISTS YOU JOIN, consider lurking on a Rootsweb mailing list for awhile before you post. In internet culture a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a mailing list, but doesn’t actively participate. Lurking will help you

• become familiar with this specific list’s etiquette

• learn who will be helpful to you and how you can help others

• get lots of information about your area of interest 

When you are ready to post your first question, comment or concern remember two things.  

• Your post will be on the internet forever. (Remember those archives we looked at when we were exploring lists?) and
• Don’t expect anyone else to do all your research for you. List members are most helpful when requests are reasonable.

For example, you could ask things like:

• Where would I find information about boundary changes in this state?

• Can anyone recommend a good translator?

• Which cemetery would a German (or Spanish etc) family have chosen in this place in 1875?

• Have you seen the new database on Ancestry?!?

• Would someone please help me translate these words…?

And finally ~

Please use the Golden Rule ~ a Rootsweb mailing list is the same as any other community. Treat others the way you wish to be treated.

Look forward to making new friends, finding long lost relatives, and conquering records you never imagined.

Success Team ~ Week One

Last month I asked for help with my research. I love searching for my ancestors. I could spend hours gathering bits and pieces of their stories. It's just too easy to get sidetracked when no one but me knows where I've been focusing my energy.


Enter Jenny from "Are My Roots Showing?". She answered my call for help with a resounding, "me too!". This morning our virtual meeting gave me a hefty boost of camaraderie, empathy, humor, and genealogical accountability. We set goals for ourselves and recorded each other's plans for the upcoming week. In seven days we'll meet again to report our progress (or lack thereof).

Something tells me we'll both reap the rewards of our collaboration. Go team! 

New Year's Resolution Update

The "eat less, exercise more" part of my New Year's Resolutions aside, here's where I am on Week 8 of my genealogy goals for 2011:

My current focus is on my Clarke, Gury, Littrell, and Schmitt lines. Still haven't found the country of origin for the Clarkes or Littrells and progress on both has been painfully slow. 17th and 18th century French Gury and Schmitt records are keeping me busy though so I am still somewhat productive.

Received disappointingly little information from St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Funkstown Maryland, but I am so appreciative of their efforts on my behalf! The pastor and his wife offered wonderful suggestions for further research.
Time to focus on the coroner's report that slipped through the cracks last year.

My first cemetery road trip of 2011 is scheduled for May. Hope all the snow melts before then! Oakwoods is at the top of the list.

Shared a Grandma story or two during my last visit. More incentive to jot down my memories before my memory fails me.

The local genealogy society isn't working for me. Need more idea generation and fewer lectures. Where are my peeps?

Chose this year's conference; FGS in Springfield Illinois in September. Husband will join me making the trip even more fun. Hope to meet some of the bloggers I follow and make a new gen-bud or two!

Photo sorting continues, but grudgingly. Must sprinkle in some creativity to retain my interest. Chose six topics about which I can cut and paste. This week I'll start arranging pictures. That oughta inspire me!

Cleaning and organizing computer files to save space (and sanity).

Back on track at Find A Grave - whew! Contributing during my lunch hour works great (until it's warm enough to walk outside).

And from now until then I'll be Living in the Past Lane.

Genealogy New Year's Resolutions for 2011

Devote the year to my paternal grandfather's ancestors. While searching for thirty direct line ancestors is still a major undertaking, it has to be more productive than looking for everybody.

Request receive records from churches, courthouses, and other
repositories. Over the years I lost track of many unanswered record requests. This year I will follow through until the documents I need are in my hands.

Take four cemetery road trips, connecting with living relatives along the way. Most of my ancestors settled out of state, but conveniently close to children, grandchildren and cousins. This year I hope to find a better balance between time with the living and time with the dead.

Write Grandma stories and share them. So much oral history dies with the narrators. I want to write down the stories my children are tired of hearing now, but may wish they remembered in later years.

Attend monthly meetings at the local genealogy society. They may not be able to help me geographically, but connecting with other researchers is a must for a sometimes solitary hobby.

Go to a genealogical conference this year and choose one for next year. I want to travel, learn new research methods, meet interesting people.

Combine scrapbooking and genealogy. Scan and digitize old photos. Preserve hard copies of pictures. Archive online photos off-site. Organize, label and safely store slides and negatives. Share pictures with relatives. Create heirloom photo albums.

Back up computer files off-site and to external hard drive regularly. For someone who experienced a computer crash, I've gotten awfully relaxed about backing up all my hard work.

Continue adding to Find A Grave until my contributions average one a day. Fill photo requests during my cemetery road trips. 

Talk, write, share. Tweet 200 times. Blog 100 times. Update my family history website 50 times. Do this for my grandkids and for their grandkids.

12 Step Program for Genealogists

Child #2 tells me I am a genealogy addict. I counter with my attendance of meetings, ostensibly looking for a cure. Child patiently explains the concept of 12 step programs; they are supposed to help one kick a habit, not provide another fix.

After some thought, I developed my own 12 Step Program. Rather than looking for a "cure", it focuses on encouraging my family to help me find just one more ancestor.

Step 1: When dinner conversation turns to county boundary changes (after nonchalantly steering the family in this direction), share no more than two stories of ancestors impacted by the change.

Step 2: If asked who the new baby looks like, answer using only the names of same-gender ancestors. Share photos when your opinion is met with rolling eyes.

Step 3: Offer to help with grandchildren's homework, especially history and geography. Casually include information about ancestors who lived in these times and places. Stop talking when you hear your children's footsteps.

Step 4: Discreetly include photos of ancestors in baby books, holiday photo albums etc. Act surprised when your children point out the impossibilty of a Revolutionary soldier at last Thanksgiving's dinner.

Step 5: Carry important papers everywhere. One never knows when a 1910 census will come in handy during a lull in the conversation.

Step 6: Make copies of family group sheets and "forget" one every time you visit.

Step 7: Plan vacations that coincidentally (how was I to know?) include the final resting places of ancestors.

Step 8: Help with the purchase of new school clothes for the grandkids. Authentic period costumes can be found on many web sites.

Step 9: Ask everyone, everywhere, about their ethnic origin. When in the company of children and grandchildren, prompt them to share theirs with store clerks, softball coaches, postal employees, directory assistance operators...

Step 10: While at the corner market, point out the simplicity of purchasing food in "these modern times". Tell stories of ancestors carrying shotguns into a nearby forest to shop for the evening meal.

Step 11: Offer to drive the grandkids home from school. Take a different route each time so those cemetery visits don't seem redundant.

Step 12: Take steps to create lifelong addicts genealogists in the next few generations. Openly share your love of family history with the family who is creating their own history today.

An Extraordinary Extra Minute

Hartford Michigan

One more minute I told myself, and then I really must go to bed. I was wandering around FamilySearch and had already entered several surnames from my tree looking for something new.

Michigan Deaths and Burials, 1800-1995, had been updated in May. I typed Clarke in the Last Name field. 3585 entries. I narrowed the search by choosing Maryland in the Place tab. And there he was. My grandfather's grandfather; Wm. P. Clarke.

William Penrod and his wife Mary Ella appeared in the 1930 census in Hartford Michigan. They posed for a picture with their grandsons in the early 1940's, after which the trail grew cold. And stayed that way for years.

Until late one night when William's name filled my computer screen in an index that included his full date of birth, a date and place of death, and news that Mary had predeceased him.

Who needs sleep? I quickly located a web site for the Van Buren (Michigan) Regional Genealogical Society where they've created an index of death records from 1935-1945. Just the years I needed! For a mere $3 each, I ordered uncertified copies of the two death records that had eluded me for years.

I'll have to allow myself 'one more minute' more often.

A Sense from Belonging

My family tree contains more leaders than followers. The trend has been to do, rather than wait for direction. Some of us have learned to sit on our hands when the call for volunteers is heard, lest we become overwhelmed by our desire to help in everything.

This "selective joining" brings a stronger commitment to the groups in which we take part. And taking part in group activities and organizations creates a picturesque record of one's life.

One of my ancestors joined a lodge that set aside a portion of membership dues for life insurance. Good decision; he died shortly afterward and his widow was able to meet her financial obligations. Others have become members of unions, or clubs related to their occupations. The roles they played in those organizations helps me get a sense of the people they were.

Women frequently joined charitable groups and helped meet society's needs. Their accomplishments were often featured in the local newspapers. The responsibilities my female ancestors accepted (in addition to those they had at home) paints a picture of the kind of people they were.

What will your descendants learn about you when they read about the clubs and other organizations you joined?