22 March 2015
Knit Genealogist: Meet Dave Robison
Knit Genealogist: Meet Dave Robison: The 13 th New England Regional Genealogical Conference (NERGC) will be held in Providence, Rhode Island, April 15-18 2015. Their theme th...
12 December 2014
Goal Setting Workshop with Marian Pierre-Louis
It is an understatement for me to say that the workshop I attended today with Marian Pierre-Louis and 13 other talented, dedicated, professional genealogists was an excellent way to spend 3 hours on a day when there is certainly no lack of many projects to attend to. For those who know Marian, you'll agree with me that she is as professional as they come.
Today's workshop was aptly entitled, "Setting Business and Marketing Goals for 2015." As the workshop opened and all the participants came into the webinar, we all had already come to know just a little bit about each other. Since Marian always comes prepared, she wanted all of the rest of us to come prepared as well. Part of our pre-workshop preparation was to visit each other's website, blogs and any other social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+. That was a great strategy to get to know each other before any of us met.
But that's not the only part of our pre-class assignment. A little soul-searching was in order. Describe your strengths; your weaknesses. Did you have goals written for 2014 and did you have a plan to achieve them? And it certainly didn't stop there. Not painful, just introspective.
Here are a few of Marian's websites and blogs:
Fieldstone Common: www.fieldstonecommon.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/marianpierrelouis
The Genealogy Professional www.facebook.com/marianpierrelouis
On-Line House History: www.fieldstonehistoricresearch.com/
Marian's Roots and Rambles: rootsandrambles.blogspot.com/
She'll be presenting the same workshop webinar to another group on Saturday. I'm not sure if there's room, but if there is and I know it's short notice, but I recommend you sign up! Click here to read about it.
I believe I speak for every participant that it was a great 3 hours, especially being led by a professional of Marian's caliber. If nothing else, it's a name to remember. If the opportunity presents itself to spend some time to learn with her, make sure you put in your schedule.
As a matter of fact, make it a goal!
Today's workshop was aptly entitled, "Setting Business and Marketing Goals for 2015." As the workshop opened and all the participants came into the webinar, we all had already come to know just a little bit about each other. Since Marian always comes prepared, she wanted all of the rest of us to come prepared as well. Part of our pre-workshop preparation was to visit each other's website, blogs and any other social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+. That was a great strategy to get to know each other before any of us met.
But that's not the only part of our pre-class assignment. A little soul-searching was in order. Describe your strengths; your weaknesses. Did you have goals written for 2014 and did you have a plan to achieve them? And it certainly didn't stop there. Not painful, just introspective.
Here are a few of Marian's websites and blogs:
Fieldstone Common: www.fieldstonecommon.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/marianpierrelouis
The Genealogy Professional www.facebook.com/marianpierrelouis
On-Line House History: www.fieldstonehistoricresearch.com/
Marian's Roots and Rambles: rootsandrambles.blogspot.com/
She'll be presenting the same workshop webinar to another group on Saturday. I'm not sure if there's room, but if there is and I know it's short notice, but I recommend you sign up! Click here to read about it.
I believe I speak for every participant that it was a great 3 hours, especially being led by a professional of Marian's caliber. If nothing else, it's a name to remember. If the opportunity presents itself to spend some time to learn with her, make sure you put in your schedule.
As a matter of fact, make it a goal!
08 December 2014
Updated Website at NEHGS
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| New England Historic Genealogical Society headquarters at 99-101 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Now, there not just throwing it out there as some search sites do thinking that we're all smart enough to figure it out ourselves! NEHGS has a great deal more sense than that! You may register for an informational webinar here which will be broadcast 16 December 2014 at 2:00 pm eastern.
See you there...
Now, go climb your family tree!
23 November 2014
AncestryDNA Sale???
Image from AncestryDNA website
Since the start of their DNA project, I have been cynical (or maybe the right word is skeptical) about their early results. After all, it's hard to tell someone who is obviously of Asian descent that they were 98% Scandinavian. Now I don't know if they tried to get away with that result specifically, but I do know that the early results were, at best, questionable. But after reading Judy G. Russell, Blaine T. Bettinger, Roberta Estes and others, Ancestry seems to have gotten their act together. They've even tweaked their autosomal results creating a significant trimming of possible matches. Nice job Ancestry!!
As a result of all this and other factors, I'll certainly check them out again this Friday and see if the "hint" from Tech Support pans out. Or should I say the "shaky leaf" from Tech Support!!
By the way, my original issue was resolved...I think!
I'll leave you with my new mantra: "Climb YOUR tree!"
22 November 2014
There's a Whole Lot Happening!
It's been a while since I've had any time to post a new blog. Some might be happy about that but then again, some might be waiting at their computers, anxiously awaiting more words of wisdom from Old Bones. But for what it's worth, here goes!
The Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society conducts monthly meetings from September through the following June. I've been the Vice President for about a year now and as I see it, we've made some great progress. First, I offer membership applications to everyone who attends my genealogy classes. That has garnered for us at least a dozen new members in the past few months. An conversely, some of the members have signed up to take some classes with me! To make our program more interesting, we've been conducting a few of our meetings via Google+ Hangouts. Actually, the first real "virtual" meeting with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, was via SKYPE. We've had 2 others so far, one with Dick Eastman author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and the other with Dear Myrt, your friend in genealogy. Dick gave us a very comprehensive look at MyHeritage.com, a very competent competitor for Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. It's worth a look. Dear Myrt challenged us in an interactive night of learning how to completely organize your genealogical research in 3 months. Really! 3months!!
Next up is the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, better known as (and easier referred to) NEAPG. This group is composed of members of the parent association, the APG, who live in New England and find it worthwhile to meet and network with other professional genealogists throughout the region. As of January 1, 2015, I will move from the Vice President seat to President of NEAPG. This one's a little nerve wracking for me. Although I operate as a professional and have several years of professional experience, I find many of the members to be people that I've known and respected for many years, some with national or even international reputations. Nice to be rubbing elbows with this crowd!!
Another aspect of my role in NEAPG is as the delegate to the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium's biennial conference. The next NERGC convention will take place in Providence, Rhode Island April 15th through 18th. If you're interested in attending, click here for a conference brochure and registration form. And I suppose I should mention that I will be speaking there on Saturday, April 18, 2015. Not that you'd come just to listen to me, but I'll be presenting "Search Strategies You Haven't Tried - Search Sites You Never Thought Of." There'll be plenty of "BIG" name genealogists giving presentations in many areas of genealogy and genealogy research. Some of the tracks include Colonial New England, Skill Building, Telling Family Stories, Researching Women, Technology, Heirlooms, Migration (from other countries and across the US), Photographs, Military Research, Immigration/Naturalization, Ethnic Genealogy, DNA, Advanced Methodology and a great deal more!
Quite a bit more to talk about, but I think I need to save a few items for another day.
"Climb YOUR tree!"
The Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society conducts monthly meetings from September through the following June. I've been the Vice President for about a year now and as I see it, we've made some great progress. First, I offer membership applications to everyone who attends my genealogy classes. That has garnered for us at least a dozen new members in the past few months. An conversely, some of the members have signed up to take some classes with me! To make our program more interesting, we've been conducting a few of our meetings via Google+ Hangouts. Actually, the first real "virtual" meeting with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, was via SKYPE. We've had 2 others so far, one with Dick Eastman author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and the other with Dear Myrt, your friend in genealogy. Dick gave us a very comprehensive look at MyHeritage.com, a very competent competitor for Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. It's worth a look. Dear Myrt challenged us in an interactive night of learning how to completely organize your genealogical research in 3 months. Really! 3months!!
Next up is the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, better known as (and easier referred to) NEAPG. This group is composed of members of the parent association, the APG, who live in New England and find it worthwhile to meet and network with other professional genealogists throughout the region. As of January 1, 2015, I will move from the Vice President seat to President of NEAPG. This one's a little nerve wracking for me. Although I operate as a professional and have several years of professional experience, I find many of the members to be people that I've known and respected for many years, some with national or even international reputations. Nice to be rubbing elbows with this crowd!!
Another aspect of my role in NEAPG is as the delegate to the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium's biennial conference. The next NERGC convention will take place in Providence, Rhode Island April 15th through 18th. If you're interested in attending, click here for a conference brochure and registration form. And I suppose I should mention that I will be speaking there on Saturday, April 18, 2015. Not that you'd come just to listen to me, but I'll be presenting "Search Strategies You Haven't Tried - Search Sites You Never Thought Of." There'll be plenty of "BIG" name genealogists giving presentations in many areas of genealogy and genealogy research. Some of the tracks include Colonial New England, Skill Building, Telling Family Stories, Researching Women, Technology, Heirlooms, Migration (from other countries and across the US), Photographs, Military Research, Immigration/Naturalization, Ethnic Genealogy, DNA, Advanced Methodology and a great deal more!
Quite a bit more to talk about, but I think I need to save a few items for another day.
"Climb YOUR tree!"
13 October 2014
Massachusetts Society of Genealogists - Middlesex Chapter
Saturday, 11 October 2014
Great day today and well worth the hour and a half drive to the Acton Memorial Library in Acton, Massachusetts. Acton is about 20 miles north-west of Boston. I made a practice run at the Middlesex Chapter of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists with a new presentation thanks to Deborah Lee Stewart, Sharon Christenson, Erica Dakin Voolich, Patricia Stano-Carpenter, Jeff Carpenter, Paul Keeler and all the members of the Middlesex Chapter. I met a few more of my "Genealogy Facebook Friends" such as Elizabeth Pyle Handler,Midge Frazel and a few Bassett and Chapin cousins! Looks like "Search Strategies/Search Sites..." was well received but I'm still tempted to tweak, tweak and tweak some more! And now off to present it at the NERGC conference in the spring. Thanks, MSoG, for the support!
For me, at least, there's always something to learn in spite of the fact that I'm the one that's supposed to be doing the "teaching." This is an important element to any subject that's not driven by science or even logic. Genealogy is an on-going study. Who are (or were) the people, where did their lives take place, how to locate the records (and document them!) and understanding that in spite of the marketing by Ancestry.com and its shaky leaves, "it's not all on the internet!!" I've heard highly respected experts proclaim that anywhere from 5% to perhaps less than 10% of the available data can be found on line. That's a lot of information that no amount of on line searching will uncover. That number is changing daily as more and more records are digitized, indexed and uploaded. But the goal is not a static one as each day bring millions, perhaps billions of new records that have been created and need to be processed.
Even with all that can be discovered in libraries, archives, attics and tag sales, we spent nearly 2 hours fine tuning our collective research techniques with the theme "Get out of that rut!" We hardly mentioned a library, even though the meeting took place in one! Nor did we talk about NARA, the Boston Public Library or any other off-line resource where that other 90-95% of our research should take place.
And I've got to admit, I was in a rut myself...no more!
Great day today and well worth the hour and a half drive to the Acton Memorial Library in Acton, Massachusetts. Acton is about 20 miles north-west of Boston. I made a practice run at the Middlesex Chapter of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists with a new presentation thanks to Deborah Lee Stewart, Sharon Christenson, Erica Dakin Voolich, Patricia Stano-Carpenter, Jeff Carpenter, Paul Keeler and all the members of the Middlesex Chapter. I met a few more of my "Genealogy Facebook Friends" such as Elizabeth Pyle Handler,Midge Frazel and a few Bassett and Chapin cousins! Looks like "Search Strategies/Search Sites..." was well received but I'm still tempted to tweak, tweak and tweak some more! And now off to present it at the NERGC conference in the spring. Thanks, MSoG, for the support!
For me, at least, there's always something to learn in spite of the fact that I'm the one that's supposed to be doing the "teaching." This is an important element to any subject that's not driven by science or even logic. Genealogy is an on-going study. Who are (or were) the people, where did their lives take place, how to locate the records (and document them!) and understanding that in spite of the marketing by Ancestry.com and its shaky leaves, "it's not all on the internet!!" I've heard highly respected experts proclaim that anywhere from 5% to perhaps less than 10% of the available data can be found on line. That's a lot of information that no amount of on line searching will uncover. That number is changing daily as more and more records are digitized, indexed and uploaded. But the goal is not a static one as each day bring millions, perhaps billions of new records that have been created and need to be processed.
Even with all that can be discovered in libraries, archives, attics and tag sales, we spent nearly 2 hours fine tuning our collective research techniques with the theme "Get out of that rut!" We hardly mentioned a library, even though the meeting took place in one! Nor did we talk about NARA, the Boston Public Library or any other off-line resource where that other 90-95% of our research should take place.
And I've got to admit, I was in a rut myself...no more!
07 August 2014
"It's All Online and It's All True!" --- Abraham Lincoln
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| Arthur andersen draft card (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The whimsical quote in the title of this blog is something I found somewhere...probably online... and I thought I'd share it with you. I was hoping it would be a humourous segue into today's subject.
It occurred to me as I was watching WDYTYA, that if anyone took a tally of what was discovered on line, specifically by the show's sponsor, Ancestry.com, and what needed to be researched in libraries, archives, repositories, church records, town halls, private collections, et al, that it would clearly demonstrated that no, as a matter of fact, it's NOT all online!
The amount of data that can be discovered at home by logging in to a variety of websites both free and subscription is quite definitely increasing, seemingly by leaps and bounds. We see numbers such as so-and-so "...has added 3,500,00 records..." with some more and some less. Without knowing how many more records there are to index and post, it almost seems as though we're nearly done so who needs the libraries, archives, repositories, church records, town halls, private collections, et al?
I've seen estimates that the internet contains 5% or less of the available data. Others estimate upwards of 15%. But the fact remains that even the sponsor of a very popular program dealing with genealogical research which is itself an internet based research resource still employs dozens of professionals to get the job done. If Ancestry.com needs professionals to put their program together, how can any hobbyists or private family researcher or professional genealogist hope to do better?
I'm just sayin'!
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