Education – Page 2 – GenealogyAtHeart.com

Researching at FamilySearch Library

It’s been several years since I’ve gone to Salt Lake City to research at the library, formerly known as Family History Library. My previous blog on what to do can be found here, however, much has changed so here are my recommendations if you plan to go.

Due to Rootstech, there were no classes offered the week I went but typically, there are classes available for free. Check out the calendar on their website.

The library has had a makeover. Gone are the genealogies on the first floor – they have all been scanned and are available online. In their space is a large area for newbies to learn about their relationship to the famous and where you can bring up your FamilySearch tree to have printed in poster size. I was told by two employees that I could print from a tree other than FamilySearch but when I handed over my thumb drive they couldn’t get my downloaded Ancestry.com tree to work with their system. I didn’t want my FamilySearch tree printed as my mom’s side is incomplete on there and my dad’s side is constantly changing, not always correctly. I keep removing a source for a man who died in the 1700s, someone keeps adding he served in the Civil War. Makes me crazy!

Also on the first floor is a very large break room with lots of vending machines. The contents range from water, milk, and soda to burritos, breakfast sandwiches, and typical snacks like granola bars and chips. Problem is that the machines don’t always work. I had bought a bottle of water (reasonably priced at .85) one day and the next day it wouldn’t take my charge card or coins. I was super thirsty so I had to go out in the rain to the mall as the restaurant on the corner is closed. The volunteer at the desk told me that the machines often don’t work. Wish they had posted a sign as I wasted time.

The international floors have been flipped. I had several books I couldn’t find and neither could the assistants at the research desk. I don’t know if they were lost, misfiled, or taken to be scanned. I looked for the same books every day for the 5 days I was there so it wasn’t like someone was using them for the day. There is also a reference section (shown above) adjacent to the wall of the new Medieval section so look there, too, if you can’t find the book in the stacks. The books are out of order so look carefully.

It’s also wise to check the Library Catalog and not the General Catalog before you leave home – they are not the same. The General Catalog lists all resources available; don’t waste your time looking at items you can view from home. The Library Catalog provides resources that are available in the library. Some of the books on the shelves have been scanned and are available online now but many have not. Found the note above at one of the scanners. I didn’t need a book from storage but know not everything is readily available. The catalogs will help you determine if you have to put in a special request. Keep in mind, though, that the catalogs aren’t updated. I found the reference below and was surprised that there were still CDs being used. I went to the 2nd floor to inquire about it and was told the item was no longer available, even though it is showing that it is.

The best upgrade is on the 3rd floor – the scanners are a dream! They have several and I used one every day I was there. No more taking pics with my phone and having to then clean out Google Photos. Bring a thumb drive and if you forget, they will give you one for free on the first floor. The thumb drive connects to an adaptor and not directly into the computer. You can see it in the picture below on the left top of the keyboard.

Another upgrade I’m not so wild about is that I previously recommended not bringing your laptop because they have so many desktops available. I counted only 19 on the 3rd floor. I don’t know how many they previously had but I believe it was more as by mid-day, there are none available. Now the desktop situation has changed. You don’t just have a desktop, you also have two monitors for each desktop (see top photo). That’s wonderful and my setup at home but I really don’t need three screens in the library. Two would have been adequate; one for your tree and one for whatever you’re looking up online. Really, why would you need to look at the microfilm, too, that’s available at home? I make a list of just what is not available – books that aren’t scanned and aren’t close to my home and film that I can’t access at home. So still, be prepared and know what you need before you go.

My biggest disappointment was what I thought would be a great idea – the online help request. The specialist that comes is not always a specialist or there isn’t one available and they don’t tell you that. On Monday I was told to ask late Tuesday afternoon for an Ohio specialist. On Tuesday afternoon I placed a request at 4 pm. At 4:10 a specialist came and told me she was signing out but someone would be with me in 15 minutes. By 4:45 when no one arrived I put in another request, thinking that she must have taken me out of the system. Five minutes later a person from the desk asked me why I had made 2 requests and I explained. I only realized that both requests were open once I hit enter for the 2nd request (see below). Once you make a request you can’t cancel it. I had wasted 45 minutes sitting in one location as I feared if I got up to look for books the specialist would think I left and cross me off the list. I told the desk lady I would be finding books and to please tell the specialist if I’m away from the desk to wait a minute. By 6 PM no one had arrived so I went to the desk and was then told that there were no specialists and wouldn’t be so go to another floor. I went to the 2nd floor and signed in for help again. About 15 minutes later a woman came to tell me the specialists were busy and it would be another 15 minutes. I remarked I’d been waiting since 4. She said she’d find someone for me. A few minutes later she returned and said I had only been signed in for 15 minutes. Yes, I had, on that floor, but it had been 2 hours plus on floor 3. About 15 minutes later the specialist arrived who was supposed to know all about Ohio. She asked me why I wanted to prove the relationship and I told her it was for a DAR ap. She replied that she had quit DAR 3 times and I shouldn’t bother. A woman sitting at the next computer overheard and joined the conversation. She asked me for what proof I had and when I gave it to her, she said she would contact her AG friend for me. Never heard from the friend. After my return, as I blogged about last week, I found the info on my own.

My last suggestion is to get there at opening (9 AM) as people seemed to be more helpful in the morning. You’ll also be one of the first to find your needed books and you’ll get a computer. Take a break at about 1 as the lines are down in the food court in the mall and then return to the library. Happy Hunting!

Evaluating Ancestry.com’s ThruLines

I want to pass on this tip if you find yourself stuck with a brick wall ancestor. While I was writing my John-Thomas Duer relationship analysis I used Ancestry’s ThruLines and created a chart to place in the paper as additional proof.

If you have DNA tested with Ancestry.com then ThruLines is available to you. To access, sign on and then click DNA on the ribbon. Click ThruLines.

Here’s where it’s advantageous to have a tree on Ancestry – for all the individuals that you’ve included in your tree for several generations, their information will appear on ThruLines in a white box by their relationship to you.

I know that I’m genetically related to both of my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents from my DNA Matches on Ancestry and other sites so I scroll down the page and begin to investigate people I have placed in my tree but need further proof of lineage. Perhaps records are just not available or sketchy. Perhaps they are a brick wall.

For my example, I’m using a line I haven’t thoroughly researched. I have a hypothesis that Mary Whitlock and John Cole were my 5^th great-grandparents. The ThruLine boxes for them appear at the bottom of the page:

Ancestry.com ThruLines Option to Investigate

Interestingly, I have NO DNA Matches for John Cole but 3 for who I thought his wife was, Mary Whitlock.

This means I need to check out Mary Whitlock further. Click on the name box and you will see a descending tree chart. I have a pic of my connection to one of the three DNA matches:

The above chart has been clipped – I’m not showing you the entire chart that Ancestry presents because I’m only going to look at one match at a time and start with the one that is closest to me. My Mary “Polly” Dennis married 5 times and had children with 3 of her husbands. I recognized in the chart above that Sarah Elder is my half 2^nd great-grandaunt because Sarah’s dad was Owen Elder; my line descends from Edward Adams. Two other DNA Matches I didn’t clip Show descent from husband John Hodge. My relationship shows as half because both Catharine Adams and Sarah E Elder got half their DNA from Polly and the other half from their dads, who were not the same individual.

I’m not sure why Ancestry needs me to EVALUATE the information as I had that in my tree already and I thought they would recognize it. If you come across that, here’s how to get the chart looking complete:

Step 1. Click on the individual to EVALUATE. You must start at the top, with the oldest generation first. Once you click EVALUATE this page will appear:

As you can see in the picture, My Main Tree is an option and that’s my personal family tree. Why Ancestry didn’t automatically connect to it I don’t understand. You don’t need to make any decision on this page, just click Next at the bottom.

The next page looks like this:

Obviously, I’m going to click the button in front of Sarah A Elizabeth Elder in My Main Tree as that’s my tree. Once the button is clicked, on the bottom “Add” to the tree is shown. Click that.

You now need to make a decision as to who the spouse will be. This is important for the DNA process. Here are my options and it automatically defaults to the first marriage. I will be clicking the button in front of Mary Polly Dennis and Owen Elder:

You’ll get a message from Ancestry that looks like this if it worked correctly:

For a brief second a message displays stating “We’re adding (individual) to your (tree name).” When it’s processed it will display this message:

When you click “View Profile,” the individual will pop up as a page in your tree. But this is a problem as I already had the woman in my tree!

Next, you are going to have to merge the new information with your old information.

Click “Merge with duplicate” which is displayed right under 2^nd great-grandaunt.

This page will display:

Ancestry recognizes I already had the same person in the tree so I just need to click ”Select.” If Ancestry doesn’t recognize the individual, type the individual exactly as you named them in your tree. For example, perhaps you entered Sarah as Sarah E. Elder instead of Sarah A. Elizabeth Elder. Type what you originally had and it will display the name, birth and death information for the person you typed. Compare and if you are sure you have selected the correct individual, click “Merge” as seen below:

Now, the new info is connected to the old and the person is one on your tree.

Within 24 hours, when you back to ThruLines, the individuals will be displayed just like your own data was so you can clip and use the chart as you like. Here’s what it will look like but you’ll have to go through and evaluate all of the individuals in descending order to get the chart complete.

More Psychic Roots Book Review

Genealogy At Heart’s second blog article today is a book review of More Psychic Roots: Further Adventures in Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997). You can read here about my first blog today which covered Henry Z. Jones, Jr.’s Psychic Roots: Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1993).

Again, here’s my disclaimer – I’ve read both books several years ago but not for the purpose of a book review. After my October 1^st blog, October Genealogical Coincidences Part 1, was posted, I was contacted by a reader who requested I write the book reviews. I thought that was a wonderful way to end my series. I received no monetary compensation for these reviews, however, I did receive a free copy of both books.

Although Further Adventures is the sequel, the books may be read in any order. There are nearly 300 more uncanny genealogical experiences highlighted. Unlike Psychic Roots, the stories in Further Adventures were obtained from family historians who had either read the prior work or seen an episode of Unsolved Mysteries that featured Jones and several genealogists whose stories had been highlighted in the first book. Jones refers to the self-reporters as “grassroots” genealogists who bravely shared their odd experiences. He acknowledges that there are those who mock others who have had strange incidences occur, likely because the events happen unexpectedly and can’t be reproduced at will. He reminds the reader that many unexplained phenomena were once considered supernatural but as science progressed, are now understood.

Further Adventures is subdivided into different types of occurrences, such as dreams, researching at the archives, visiting a bookstore/cemetery/ancestral locale, mistakenly ordering the wrong material, or looking in an unlikely location, such as reading the first book, recognizing a surname, and finding a distant family contact with whom to connect. In the back of both books is a surname index. One of the surnames that I research, Harbaugh, was found in the sequel; I was familiar with the ancestor but not the contributor who has a different last name. I also recognized two stories included by one of my blog readers, Linda Stufflebean. Perhaps, you too will recognize a connection.

Further Adventures contains more than just odd reports, there are solid genealogical practices noted. My favorite is a story of a father and daughter’s attempt to find a remote cemetery location of an ancestor. They were thrilled to report to a family member that they accomplished their goal only to be asked by the relative, “Why didn’t you ask me?” Clearly, the importance of doing family interviews could save us time and travel.

The book also reminds us of the need to examine records in the counties surrounding where our ancestors once lived. This is definitely a sound practice. The value of documenting sources, staying abreast of current practices, and double-checking all evidence is emphasized.

Another recommendation is to trust our intuition. That little voice that nudges you to examine a hunch just might be correct. Flexibility in our research plan, a positive attitude and a sense of humor can lead to discovering the unexpected. As Jones points out, our immigrant ancestors gambled “their lives on the unknown” and took a great risk. Getting out of our comfort zone by picking a book at random might just lead us to a new discovery.

I especially like the idea “that when you help someone else, the favor is always repaid in full measure – maybe not by the recipient, but from somewhere a bonanza falls into your eager hands!” p. 186. I can attest to that.

This work does focus more on ghostly encounters and unconventional techniques, such as automatic writing, than the prior book. It was emphasized by a contributor, however, that serendipity does not come without research.

Although DNA was not as prevalent at the time the book was written, there is a broad mention of it. The work of philosopher Emmanuel Kant regarding gaining a priori knowledge is attributed to perhaps genetic programming we do not yet fully understand. LaVonne Harper Stiffler’s work on genetic connections of adoptees to their birth parents was also explored.

Jones’ final chapter is a mini-memoir of his relationships gained through his careers as an entertainer and a genealogist. It is here where the reader learns the root of Jones’ personal philosophy and genealogical practices. A touching tribute to his longtime collaborator, Carla Mittelstaedt Kubaseck, concludes the book.

I think it is fitting to house both of Jones’ works on my bookshelf next to Mills’ Evidence Explained. How does one cite the illogical occurrences that led us through a brick wall? I will ponder that on another day. For now, I appreciate all of the contributors, and especially, Jones, for revealing their strange encounters. I am also very thankful to have experienced many of my own coincidences and synchronicities. Personally, I don’t particularly care how they occur, I just hope they keep on coming!

Psychic Roots Book Review

With the extra hour you gain from this weekend’s time change, Genealogy At Heart has a 2-for-1 special today! As I conclude my synchronicity series I’ll be reviewing two books that are filled with genealogical coincidences. The first blog will cover Henry “Hank” Z. Jones, Jr.’s Psychic Roots: Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1993). The second blog today is Jones’ follow-up, More Psychic Roots: Further Adventures in Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997).

Here’s my disclaimer – I’ve read both books several years ago but not for the purpose of a book review. After my October 1^st blog, October Genealogical Coincidences Part 1, was posted, I was contacted by a reader who requested I write the book reviews. I thought that was a wonderful way to end my series. I received no monetary compensation for these reviews, however, I did receive a free copy of both books.

Psychic Roots is a compilation of professional genealogists’ stories of their odd experiences while performing research. Most occurrences happened when the ancestor was a family member, however, some transpired while research was being performed for clients. One of the book’s strengths is its reliance on input from professional genealogists, many renowned such as current or former fellows of the American Society of Genealogists, such as Henry Lines Jacobus, Helen F. M. Leary, John Insley Coddington, and Francis “Jim” Dallett. GRIP co-founder Elissa Scalise Powell is also included. Jones contacted 300 genealogists requesting they share any unusual experiences encountered while researching. Over 200 replied and many of their responses are contained in the book, including a few who had no strange occurrences at all.

The book begins with a tale of how Jones got bitten by the genealogy bug as a youth. Like many of us, genealogy was Jones’ second career. Some of you may recall seeing him on the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, in Disney’s Blackbeard’s Ghost, or on various television situation comedies before he left entertainment for family history.

Jones is a fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. Psychic Roots was not his first authored work. He is well-known for The Palatine Families of Ireland (1965) and the two-volume The Palatine Families of New York – 1710 (1985) for which he received the prestigious Jacobus Award. It was a result of those works that Psychic Roots came about; Jones could not let go of his passion for the emigrating Palatinates and he desired to explore why he was called to spend much of his life investigating them. Upon reflection, he recalled the many strange occurrences that led him to research findings.

Jones stresses “scientific methods” or as today, we would follow the guidelines in the Genealogy Standards. He delved into other disciplines to better understand the unexplainable events he had experienced. His research took him to the works of author Horace Walpole, who purportedly coined the word serendipity, psychologist Carl Jung’s collective unconscious, chemist Dr. Louis Pasteur’s view of chance, physician Dr. Jonas Salk’s intuitive thinking, physicist Wolfgang Pauli’s study of non-physical and non-causal events in nature, physicist Albert Einstein’s belief in intuition, and NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell’s ESP studies. He attended lectures by individuals, such as Ramond Bayless and Dr. Elizabeth McAdams, who investigated psychics. Jones examined Dr. Raymond Moody and Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross’ works on near-death experiences. He also looked for precedence in the field of genealogy and found it in “Randall-Pease-Hutchinson-Warner: A Study in Serendipity,” an article published in The American Genealogist by Winifred Lovering Holman in 1957. He includes a bibliography for further reading.

The types of nonrational experiences are explored in depth by chapters, divided by synchronicity, numeracy, intuition, and genetic memory.

The title, Psychic Roots, is a bit deceiving. If you’re expecting woo-woo, spine-tingling creepiness you aren’t going to find it here. You are more apt to have a belly laugh. This is one area that I think makes the book so successful; when dealing with sensitive situations, appropriate laughter can be useful and some of the stories are hilarious.

I found this book is much more than just the uncanny experiences of genealogists. There are many other discoveries to be made in Psychic Roots. For example, I found it interesting how Helen Leary researched; she did not use Write as You Go. No spoiler alert here; you’ll have to get a copy to find out her method.

Henry Jones reinforces other tips that genealogists can find helpful, such as researching the FAN Club, although that term wasn’t used at the time the book was published, collaborating with colleagues, and boots-on-the-ground research. If you attended Thomas Jones’ 2023 National Genealogical Society lecture, “It Gets Even Better Offline,” he stated in one of his examples that “This incident also illustrates how serendipity can play a role in genealogical research and in my experience there are more serendipitous findings in genealogical research offline than there are online.” The tales in Psychic Roots support that belief.

I could relate to many of the stories as I’ve found myself in similar frustrating situations when hitting a brick wall. One memorable account related how a researcher, in desperation, began speaking to a photo of the son of the man she was unable to find information about. Her family thought she was losing touch with reality until a few months later, after repeated requests directed at the photo, the information she sought was found. If only I had a photo of my Thomas Duer! Jones believes that both thinking and feeling about your ancestor, along with immersing yourself in their customs and societal norms is what leads to successful finds.

The book is a quick read and difficult to put down. While reading it I did have one strange occurrence. Somehow, my new smartphone decided to change my keyboard to Deutsch. I have no idea how that happened. It could have been a fluke or, it could have been Jones’ Palatine families wanting to communicate. Who knows what odd situation will happen to you when you pick up a copy! Let me know, I’d love to hear from you.

APG PMC 2022 Has Begun!

The annual Association of Professional Genealogists Professional Management Conference has opened. Yours truly will be speaking on Friday at 11:30 AM EDT. If you are ready to turn your genealogy hobby into a business I highly recommend you attend next year or better yet, watch the recordings of this year’s conference. The lecture topics are timely and the breakout sessions are a wonderful way to connect with other genealogists from around the world. Click here for more info on this year’s recordings. Become a member of APG to receive details about next year’s conference.

Family Historians Must Talk About the Memories

John Leininger State Line House. Photo courtesy of Robert LeRoy Leininger. Leininger Family History and Genealogy, Columbia City, IN: Self Published, p. 4.

Today’s blog wasn’t my intended topic but as the week evolved, I felt the need to write about recent laws in my state (and maybe yours!) that matter to family historians and genealogists.

Long-time readers know my first career was as an educator; I retired as a Public School Counselor last August. My paternal grandmother taught briefly in Ohio before her marriage. My husband is also a retired educator. His great grandfather was a lifelong teacher and principal in rural Indiana. Although not educators, my Leininger line certainly valued education as they built their house across the Indiana-Ohio state line for the purpose of being able to have a choice option of where to send their children to school. Even back in the day school funding was problematic so when one district had cuts, they simply moved their belongings to the other side of the house and enrolled in the other school district. A novel way to ensure their children were well educated.

I am in favor of the community having a voice in schools and that schools are critical for a region’s future success.

This week, the Florida legislature passed two bills that affect schools. The first allows parents to sue teachers if school personnel “instructs” a student in third grade or under on sexual orientation. On the surface, you might think that discussion isn’t age-appropriate. Children notice EVERYTHING and they ask for information when they don’t understand something. What is a teacher supposed to say when a kid asks why does Jack has two mommies or two daddies? I always replied, “Because each family is different which is what makes them so special.” I can see that today, a parent with an agenda might take that statement to the court.

Here’s why I gave that reply to my elementary students . . . When I was their age I was the only child with divorced parents in my parochial school. Not until I was in 6th grade did another child with divorced parents enroll. Pre-Vatican II divorce was a serious offense by Roman Catholic Church standards. We learned that in religion class. I was penalized because my father never came to school functions – the PTA awarded points for parents who attended monthly meetings. Moms got 1 point and dad’s got 5 points. A dad only had to show up once a year and the mom every other meeting to exceed my mother’s perfect attendance number. In May, any student who had parent participation above a certain number would get an ice cream treat. I never got one.

Those were painful times. I thought the world had changed towards acceptance of differences but in my state, we’re slipping backward. Instead, the governor embarrased responsible high school students because their belief system is different than his. But that’s not all that’s happening in Florida.

Teacher training on diversity is being canceled and teacher lessons that imply someone is responsible for actions “committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.” that makes a student feel uncomfortable is forbidden. Again, parents can sue the teacher for the lesson. Here’s my problem with this. I’ve blogged about the KKK targeting my maternal grandparents. I’m white and obviously, the KKK hoodlums were white. A parent not liking my lesson or blog can sue me for telling the truth about the past! The law doesn’t protect the victims but the perpetrators. My mother’s trauma as a child enduring the long night she thought she would die is irrelevant in Florida because we don’t want to hurt the feelings of a white child today whose ancestor may have been responsible.

My family is far from perfect and I’ve written about my own ancestor, Daniel Hollingshead, who upped his social standing at the expense of others. I’m not proud to have an ancestor who was complicit and tolerant of his second wife who had inherited enslaved people.

We must remember the past, the good, the bad, and the ugly, or we haven’t learned the lessons. Suing is not the way to deal with uncomfortable topics. My former school district has had nearly 9% of its teachers resign in the past year. How many more will be driven out because they can no longer speak the truth?

Weekly I volunteer at my local train depot museum. The building has two doors; built-in 1909 the law was Separate but Equal. The title of the law was half correct – the facility was separated by race but it was anything but equal. People of color had to share one small restroom while white people had larger, separate facilities. Whites had heat on their side of the wall and a larger ticket window. Their space was also much larger. Equal? Nope! Unbelievably, the building remained separated until Amtrack shut it down in the late 1970s. The law may have been off the books but its effect lingered much longer.

That’s not the only place the law lingered. As a teen, I worked for the City of St. Petersburg. In City Hall was a racist mural and the water coolers had painted above “whites” and “colored.” I had learned about Jim Crow laws in U.S. History class in the north but it never occurred to me that a visible reminder remained in my lifetime. When I questioned it of my director, her response was “You’re a carpetbagger; you wouldn’t understand.” She was entirely correct. I’ve lived in my county for 50 years and I still don’t understand people refusing to accept differences and acknowledge the mistakes of the past.

If the schools aren’t going to be able to do the job then we, as the remembers, must step up and speak out. I’d be interested to know how you take on the challenge.

Rootstech 2022-Last Day!

Photo courtesy of Family Search

Fear not, you haven’t missed Rootstech, the online FREE FamilySearch.org conference. Today is the last day and you can sign in to attend here.

If you are short of time and can’t attend lectures, don’t worry. The 1,000 talks will be available on YouTube. I know that I missed a keynote I had wanted to hear due to a commitment and plan to catch up on that soon.

I highly recommend, if you have only limited time today, to definitely check out the Expo Hall. Organizations, start-up companies, and well-known businesses are available at a virtual booth. Many offer discounts. Visit 20 and you can enter a Priceline drawing for a family trip.

Have a tree on FamilySearch.org? Then you might want to click the Find Relatives section of the event. Your tree is compared with other attendees who have their tree on the site. When an individual is matched, you and your kin can send each other a message. Last year I conversed with a Landfair descendant who lived not too far from me. This year, I found a second Leininger cousin. Who knows what absolute goodness that relative may have for you genealogically in their attic, basement or brain!

Genealogy Education

The weather outside appears to be frightful for much of the U.S. and parts of Europe, so my dear readers, nothing like cozying up with your tech device and working your brain muscles to learn additional tips and tricks genealogy-wise.

I live in an area that has the largest Greek population outside of Greece; if you don’t and are of Greek heritage you might think your ancestor hunt is a dead end. Think again! Last weekend the Tarpon Springs Public Library held its 2nd Greek Genealogy Conference. No worries that you missed it – it’s available, handouts and all, on YouTube.

I have to share this story from Tuesday. . . I volunteer at my local hospital which is in the process of renovating. There is a very calming beach scene mural that was placed on the wall in the family waiting area. A woman got off the elevator and gasped. I asked if I could help and she just stared, pointing at the mural. She replied, “That’s the view from my home in Greece!” She then showed me a pic her husband had texted her that morning of the snowfall. Yep, same buildings as in the mural with a light dusting of snow. Definitely a small world and I love how she educated me about the mural that has no identifier as to where it was located.

The National Genealogical Conference registration is now open with a DISCOUNT for their May 24-28, 2002 Family History Conference in Sacramento, California. Your options are to select in-person, virtual, or on-demand so you can view lectures later in the summer. Check out their catalog here. I’m thrilled that there are options available as I love attending but am not yet comfortable with traveling there in May.

MyHeritage.com has introduced a 40 lesson Intro to Genealogy course that takes about 5 hours to complete; you don’t have to do it in one sitting. I haven’t taken it myself but as soon as I’m done with my scanning project (sigh) I plan to take a look at it.

Speaking of scanning, I had two wonderful comments to my last week’s blog that I need to share. Bob recommended that I also save my digitized photos to an external hard drive. He is so right! Randy reminded me that MyHeritage.com has awesome photo software to enhance your old photos. It also just happens to be free through tomorrow. Check it out here if you’re not a member. Thanks, Randy, I sadly discovered my wedding album is fading. Luckily, I did scan those photos years ago but I do have some other photos that could use a facelift. I plan on using those features once I’m done.

MyHeritage has also had some changes to how you can view their historical records, now in a table view. Check out their blog article about it.

Let’s not forget that we, as a genealogy community, are great sources of educating each other. I was contacted on Ancestry.com by my 7th great step-cousin last week on my Hollingshead line. We were discussing her 7th great-grandmother’s will and I shared how surprised I originally was when I saw she had bequeathed her slaves to one of her children. Step-mom lived in New Jersey from about 1720 to 1771. Cousin recommended a good read that her local genealogical society had recommended when she shared the will with them. It’s available on Amazon and I selected the Kindle download for Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills If These Stones Could Talk: African American Presence in the Hopewell Valley, Sourland Mountain and the Surrounding Regions of New Jersey. It is a fascinating read and timely for Black History Month!

Free African Americans During Slavery

I often wondered how 10% of Black Americans had obtained their freedom by 1860. When I looked for manumission records I often found none. Was I looking in the wrong places? Did war/climate/insects/careless people destroy the records? How could so many records just disappear?

I attended a recent NGS Conference session by Ric Murphy who finally gave me the answer – there were Black Americans who were “indentured” and not enslaved arriving as early at 1619. This was certainly news to me as I never was taught that in history classes. I’ve been to Jamestown and no one there ever mentioned that fact. How did I miss this my entire life?!

The story is intriguing and much too long for a blog article. Major players were the Roman Catholic Church, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain and what is now the Netherlands. Piracy and violation of international treaties resulted in the decision to indenture rather than enslave.

I wish the book was offered in an electronic version as I’m trying to pair down my hard copies but it is not. There is one one-star review on Amazon but the person who left their concerns is in error in some of the points made – the Native Americans and the colonists did not get along prior to the African’s arrival and the majority of the white settlers had died due to famine because they feared hunting in the woods as Native Americans were hunting them. There is strong evidence from a variety of sources outside of the US that those first arriving Africans did come from a well educated, multilingual area of Africa. Although we now know that Bermuda is not part of the Caribbean, early maps considered it as part of the Caribbean islands. The author could have clarified that but I wouldn’t avoid reading the book because he didn’t.

Put this book on your summer reading list – Ric Murphy. Arrival of the First Africans in Virginia. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2020.

National Genealogical Society May Conference Reflection

I attended the National Genealogical Conference virtually this week, the second time the conference has been in that format. Here’s my take on it…

This year there are 3 days in May for the general attendees compared to last year, where there was only one. This makes sense since the organization had to pivot at the last minute to move the format while this year they had a longer time period to adjust.

I enjoyed SLAM! on Tuesday. SLAM is an acronym for Societies, Libraries, Archives and Museums and featured “posters” from submitting organizations regarding innovative programs they provided to members/patrons during the pandemic. Monday was society today but since I registered as an individual I was not able to attend those sessions. Friday was society wrap up which, although sessions showed on my dashboard, I was not able to enter.

I was greatly impressed by the SLAM! submissions. Three Top Poster Winners and three runner ups were highlighted and representatives from the winning organizations answered questions from conference attendees. My personal favorite was a circle Family Wheel Chart provided by Mary Kate Gliedt, Genealogy Manager at the St. Louis Public Library. The beauty of this simple chart is to allow flexibility and inclusion with family dynamics. If you have step-family, adoption, foster parents, nonparental event or same sex parents, the traditional family tree does not work. With the Wheel Chart, lines can be made to include those important people that influenced a child. I have altered the form by making the lines faint so they can be written over if not needed and drawn over when used. An example is above.

You would put your name in the ME circle. Your birth mother could be written in space Mom 1 or Mom 2. If you have an Adopted, Foster or Step Mother, she could be placed in the other Mom space. If you had 3 “moms” then the top half of the second circle could be divided into 3 sections. You can alter the form from there. When finished, drawing over the lines with a pen can make the form easy to follow.

I’ll be including spaces around the 4 quadrants of the page to include children of those relationships. Now you have one sheet displaying the family dynamics and including everyone.

After the SLAM! winners, attendees could visit each submission site and chat with representatives. I will be blogging next week about the Veteran’s Legacy Project.

Overall, the first day went well with this new format. There were only two minor glitches. The first was that the kickoff event was purported to be a livestream from Ancestry but it wasn’t livestream, it was a replay from an older Youtube video from that organization. Event personnel clarified in the chat that was the case after a number of participants mentioned the discrepancy.

The day ended with the second glitch, a livestream from Family Search. Clicking the button to view did not work. Eventually, a note was displayed to go to Youtube. Several of us missed the first few minutes of the presentation because of the tech issue. Overall, it was a wonderful day!

One tech issue occurred on Wednesday when Dani Shapiro’s presentation froze. NGS allowed viewing through Friday at 5:00 PM for those who missed it.

Thursday’s line up included more than one option at the same time period. If you wanted to view a missed presentation, viewing was made available through Friday at 5:00 PM. In that way, I was able to view every option.

For those who purchased a 20 or 40 session packet, beginning June 15^th, all of the sessions except Dani Shapiro’s, is included in either packet. The syllabus for all sessions was provided electronically and those that purchased a packet, more sessions not yet shown will be available to view through December 31, 2021. Since I don’t have many lines in Virginia, I purchased the 20 session packet. Looking forward to more interesting sessions to view over the summer.

Although I miss the camaraderie of attending conferences in person, there is a lot of positives to virtual – no wasted time or expense by travel and the ability to view at my leisure. Next May the NGS conference will be held in Sacramento, California. I’m hoping that a virtual option remains as I have no needed research to do in that area.

Here are my personal favorite sessions:

Most Heartfelt – Family Secrets

Most Entertaining – Young General Lafayette

Most New Information – The Story of Virgina: Arrival of the First Africans (I’m buying the book by Ric Murphy!)

Most Consistent Presenter Over Venues Demonstrating Excellence – Elizabeth Shown Mills. How she makes everything look simple is just so special!

Most Knowledgeable about Virginia – Barbara Vines Little

DNA Technique – Tie between Angie Bush and Christa Cowan who both demonstrated how they use the colored dots on Ancestry. I use mine like Angie but am willing to try Christa’s method.

Special shout out to Erin Shifflett, NGS Staff. I couldn’t find the syllabus as the link was buried in one of the many emails that they had sent to remind me of the conference. I sent an email and in less than 5 minutes had a response with the document to download. Now that’s service!