My Trails into the Past

I have completed one hundred eighty-nine (189) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I remained masked at medical appointments (blood draws and vaccinations), and in the airport and on flights to and from Salt Lake City. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings I met up with BCG associates this weekend in Salt Lake City. It was great seeing people in person!  Saturday evening, I had dinner with genealogists Helen (from Australia), Judy, and Linda at the Blue Iguana. Genealogy Writing I worked on my research report for my renewal while at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City and got a lot done. I sure enjoyed working on their computers (they have Microsoft Office!) and being able to look up documents in the catalog as I needed them. Blog Posts: Friends and Classmates of Margaret T Gleeson at Mitchell High School 1892 . I used Newspapers.com again to locate newspaper articles about my great-grandaunt, Margaret T. Gleeson, and her friends. I turned over a photo from an album an...

Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. This idea came from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing, who started this meme. Genealogy Blog Writing : I was busy with other activities and only got one post in this week. 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks :  For the “cousins” theme, I showed two photos from our archives of Nilsen cousins and Hork cousins. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   "Civil Law Concepts and Genealogy"—Claire Bettag, Legacy Family Tree Webinars Conference Attended : I attended the Association of Professional Genealogists Professional Management Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah held at the RL Hotel from September 22-24, with a pre-conference activities on the 21st. I was a mentor to two first-time attendees, Robyn Buehler and Marybethe Kelly. I also spent time with other first-timers, especially Franchesca Werden. Robyn, Lisa, ...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing started this meme and I loved the idea. Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. Genealogy My entire week was spent doing genealogy! CGS Research Trip Sunday, April 22, I left Oakland for Salt Lake City to lead a group of genealogists from the California Genealogical Society to research at the Family History Library. There were a total of fourteen of us, including me, at the library. On our way to Wednesday's dinner at the Garden Restaurant On the first day, where I gave a tour of the library to those who were interested. Then I was available on the third floor at the tables near the windows for consultations from anyone in the group. Sometimes I sat with a participant helping with their interpretations of a document they found or helped them navigate through the FamilySearch catalog to find the images they wanted. ...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing started this meme and I loved the idea. Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. Genealogy The main event for me this week was attending RootsTech 2018. It was in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Salt Palace and put on by FamilySearch. I roomed with my friend, Jacqueline. I had previously not attended because of its size. Over 14,000 people pre-registered for this conference. And crowds there were. But I decided to come this one time in order to meet in person several people who were coming from out of the country or from the east coast. Besides classes, I managed to get many photos with genealogy friends from far and wide. Melinda Culpon, Hilary Gadsby, and me I especially decided to attend RootsTech to meet Hilary in person. She is English but lives in Wales. I have participated in several DearMyrtle study groups with her.  I met se...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing started this meme and I loved the idea. Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. Genealogy 1. Genealogy Courses This week I atteded Rick Sayre’s Advanced Land Tools: Maps class at SLIG (Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy). We had five full days of classes and a banquet on Friday night. I learned so much about how to accessed maps online and offline, how to overlay old maps onto Google Earth, and how to plot land both on paper and in a program called DeedMapper . Check out my blog posts about my SLIG experience.     The week wasn’t just about class. I made some new friends, visited with old friends, read through several of the BCG certification portfolios, and purchased some new genealogy books. I got in some exercise each day walking back to the hotel from the library each afternoon. Some of the CGS members pre...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing started this meme and I loved the idea. Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. Genealogy 1. Blogs Got caught up, writing future blog posts, since I would be in Salt Lake City for eleven days. This post was started and was added to during the week, to be published on Monday, January 22. Two posts were published on the 15th: ·          Mam-ma’s Southern Family : “Happy 7th Blogiversary!” ·          My Trails into the Past : “Monday Genea-pourri, Week of January 8-14” I also published a post for the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.” The theme was longevity and I wrote about my grandmother and her uncle, who both lived to 100ish. https://mam-massouthernfamily.blogspot.com/2018/01/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-week-3.html 2. Genealogy Courses I am working on th...